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	Del. Judge Halts Teacher Sex Abuse Suits By Randall Chase Associated Press Writer May 27, 2010 http://wjz.com/wireapnewsmd/Judge.halts.child.2.1716842.html DOVER, Del. (AP) ― A Kent County judge on Wednesday halted child sexual abuse lawsuits involving several Delaware school districts pending a state Supreme Court ruling on a challenge to the law that allowed victims to sue over what happened decades ago. Superior Court Judge William Witham Jr. issued an order halting four separate lawsuits in which the Capital, Red Clay, Brandywine and Christina school districts are named as defendants. A similar child sexual abuse lawsuit involving the Colonial school district was stayed earlier this month by a superior court judge. Witham ordered that the four lawsuits on his docket be put on hold until the Delaware Supreme Court rules on an appeal in a separate suit involving the Oblates of St. Francis de Sales, a Catholic religious order. Tom Neuberger, an attorney for the plaintiffs, said the ruling impedes the recovery process for victims who have suffered in silence for years and prolongs their emotional trauma. "Why can't they have depositions taken?" he asked. "We have people who for 30 or 40 years have been living with the injuries inflicted on them." The school districts, like the Oblates, have challenged the constitutionality of the Delaware Child Victims Act, a 2007 law that created a two-year window in which lawsuits previously barred because of passage of time could be filed by victims of alleged child sexual abuse. In the first case to go to trial under the law, a New Castle County jury declared last year that the Oblates were liable under the Child Victims Act for the abuse of James Sheehan, but it awarded him no damages. The decision came after the judge in the case rejected a challenge to the CVA, marking the second time a Superior Court judge had upheld the law. Neuberger, who represents Sheehan, also noted that the Supreme Court has refused four times to accept challenges to the constitutionality of the law. "These are frivolous actions by the public school districts," he said, adding that he expects more than 40 other child sexual abuse lawsuits involving public and private schools also to be put on hold because of Witham's ruling. But Witham agreed with the districts that the cases involve serious legal questions. "Although the court acknowledges that no Delaware court has deemed the CVA unconstitutional, the court notes that there are legal issues that remain to be decided," he wrote. "The situation currently before the court is unique," Witham added. "The CVA opened the proverbial floodgates for litigation. As a result, courts across this state are considering nearly identical, if not identical, constitutional arguments." Neuberger said a briefing in the Supreme Court appeal should be finished by mid-July, after which he expects the court to schedule oral arguments. A decision in the case may not come until late in the year, but Neuberger said he will try to speed up the process by asking the court for a summary affirmation upholding the law. Neuberger said he has been told by the state attorney general's office that it will file a brief in the Supreme Court case defending the constitutionality of the law, as it did in 2007 in a Superior Court case involving priest sex abuse.
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