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	Editorial: Abuse Cases Warrant Special Time Limit Discovery of Childhood Sexual Abuse Scars Can Take Years Star Tribune [Minnesota] March 17, 2007 http://www.startribune.com/561/story/1060605.html State Sen. Gary Kubly, DFL-Granite Falls, is also the Rev. Gary Kubly of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. In that latter role, he's been a pastoral counselor to two adults whose behavioral and psychological problems can be traced to sexual abuse they experienced as a child. "This kind of abuse has a hugely traumatic effect," Kubly said. "It's fairly common that the victims don't come to grips with the damage it's done until much later in life, as much as 30 years later." Minnesota statutes once acknowledged those two unique characteristics of childhood sexual abuse -- that it leaves deep scars on the developing human psyche, and that the source of those scars is often slow to be recognized by troubled adults. The law should again reflect that reality. This year, the Legislature should reinstate a special statute of limitations for delayed discovery of damages caused by childhood sexual abuse. From 1989 until 1996, state law provided a six-year statute of limitations on lawsuits seeking civil damages from child molesters. The six-year clock began running not when the incident occurred, but when it was discovered that the incident caused lasting injury. In 1996, the Minnesota Supreme Court reset the clock. In what the original Senate sponsor of the law, former Sen. Ember Reichgott Junge, says was a misinterpretation of legislative intent, the court said the time would run out for complaints of childhood sexual abuse six years after the victim attained the age of majority -- in other words, age 24. When the judiciary misconstrues legislative intent, the Legislature is often quick to reaffirm its position. But by 1997, the special statute of limitations for childhood sexual abuse had acquired a powerful opponent -- the Minnesota Religious Council, a multidenominational group that includes the local archdiocese of the Roman Catholic Church, an institution that has been rocked by clergy sexual abuse scandals. Aggressive lobbying by the council has kept a delayed discovery statute of limitations off the books. This year, victims and their advocates have redoubled their effort to restore to civil law a recognition of the timing peculiarity associated with childhood abuse. It would start the statute of limitations clock running at the time of discovery of an injury. That time would be determined by a jury, based on professional medical or psychological testimony. Existing penalties for frivolous suits would fully apply. The burden of proof in such cases would be on the plaintiff; if the passage of time had destroyed records or credible memories to support a complaint, the plaintiff's case would suffer. That approach has the backing of the Minnesota County Attorneys Association -- this state's criminal prosecutors. They say they need the help of victims' complaints in civil court to bring sexual pedophiles to light, and to justice. It's a bit ironic, given the churches' opposition, that the delayed discovery bill's Senate sponsor is the Rev. Kubly. He's taking the side of people who describe innocent lives turned upside down at the hands of molesters they should have been able to trust. "I've had more calls about this than any other issue," he said. "These were tear-filled conversations, very sad stories. Something needs to be done to right these wrongs."
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