Sexual Abuse Lawsuit Bill Hearing Monday

Rapid City Journal
February 6, 2012

http://rapidcityjournal.com/news/sexual-abuse-lawsuit-bill-hearing-monday/article_aeff7c28-507e-11e1-94dc-0019bb2963f4.html

Rep. Steve Hickey, R-Sioux Falls, calls his bill to rescind the statute of limitations in childhood sexual abuse civil lawsuits "a shot for the fence."

HB1218 will get a hearing at 10 a.m. today in the House Judiciary Committee.

"I do think we'll be able to move the ball down the field and seek to rescind what was done in 2010," said Hickey, pastor of an evangelical Christian church in Sioux Falls.

His bill would repeal a 2010 law that changed South Dakota's law on who could file a lawsuit against a third-party alleging sexual abuse. In addition to the standard limits of filing a civil suit within three years of the abuse occurring, or of discovering that it occurred, the 2010 Legislature put an age limit of 40 on anyone bringing a lawsuit against a church, school, religious order or other entity that was not the individual perpetrator of the abuse. That legislation is seen by Hickey and others as an attempt to protect religious entities against lawsuits brought by Native American plaintiffs alleging abuse at Catholic-affiliated boarding schools that occurred decades ago.

Robert Brancato, head of the Rapid City chapter of Survivors of those Abused by Priests, or SNAP, said the 2010 law affected at least 200 plaintiffs in the state and he will be in Pierre to testify before the committee.

A law professor from the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law at Yeshiva University in New York City is expected to testify that the state's current statute of limitations law is unconstitutional because it targets a special class of victims, Brancato said. Marci Hamilton believes the law could open South Dakota to monetary damages as a civil rights violation.

Brancato and Hickey contend some legislators didn't fully understand the legal consequences of the 2010 bill.

"I can guarantee there won't be anybody who doesn't understand the ramifications of this bill," Hickey said.

Hickey said total repeal of the 2010 law is a long shot.

"I'm optimistic about some partial rescind," he said. "We've got a bill here that shoots for the fence. Chances of getting it all are not as good as getting something, but we're going to make the best case we can."

The Catholic Diocese of Rapid City did not respond to a request for comment on Hickey's bill.