Delaware's Child Victims Act was a success despite the odds

By Thomas S. Neuberger
News Journal
July 26, 2014

http://www.delawareonline.com/story/opinion/contributors/2014/07/26/child-victims-act-success-despite-odds/13215981/

The passage of the Child Victims Act in July of 2007 is proof that even the often maligned "Delaware Way" can sometimes benefit the proverbial "little guys."

In 2012 about 900 sexually abused pre-adolescent victims of jailed Delaware pediatrician Earl Bradley shared a Beebe Hospital fund of $123 million in Superior Court because of the CVA.

During a 2011 federal court bankruptcy reorganization, over $110 million also was distributed to 152 adult survivors who were sexually abused by Catholic priests of the Diocese of Wilmington, the Oblates of St. Francis de Sales, and the Capuchins. For what some call "soul murder," tens of millions of dollars also were paid in confidential settlements with dozens of other childhood rape survivors which occurred in families, other churches, nonprofit organizations or in public, private or religious schools.

Vital knowledge also was given to parents to enable them to make informed decisions and protect their children. For example, the names of living predator priests from Salesianum and Archmere were revealed, warning parents of the dangers they present to their children. At Salesianum school alone, twelve living or deceased priests were exposed, and at the Diocese more than 20. Even more co-workers and supervisors were revealed to have turned a blind eye.

A tsunami of media attention to the need for access to the courts for abuse survivors first arose in Boston in 2002 and later swept into Delaware with a comprehensive News Journal exposé on the problem. Then, through the heroic efforts of State Senator Karen Peterson, a Democrat, and Rep. Deborah Hudson. a Republican, the General Assembly unanimously enacted the CVA. But at two crucial points in an underlying legislative battle it was Rep. Peter Schwartzkopf, a Democrat, and then Senator John Still, a Republican, who movingly carried the day for justice for abuse survivors.

The CVA then opened the courthouse door because it removed the statute of limitations for civil suits – no longer would an 8-year-old have to hire an attorney and sue by the time he turned 10. Instead past survivors were given two years to come into court to prove their case, and future survivors were given the time necessary to come to grips with their horrors and make an informed decision on whether to reopen their wounds and seek justice.

In a remarkable example of the "Delaware Way," both political parties had joined hands for children, but would the Delaware courts, known for their business friendly reputation, join in or instead would they tilt the scales of justice in favor of powerful institutions, like the insurance industry and the Catholic Church?

Should the rights of a mere handful of flesh and blood injured persons yield to business as usual and immunity from accountability for monstrous wrongs? The powerful lost their initial pleas before two distinguished and fair Superior Court Judges, Robert Young and Calvin Scott, and ultimately appealed to the Delaware Supreme Court for a bailout. But, in a unanimous decision, now retired Chief Justice Myron Steele, speaking for the Court, upheld the constitutionality of the CVA and affirmed the value of a single wounded person over the interests of business and the powerful. The result in the normally business friendly Delaware federal bankruptcy courts was similar.

To the disappointment of the Diocese, justice was indeed blind in the fair-minded courtroom of Judge Christopher Sontchi where the little man stood on an equal footing to a powerful and monied institution. All the while, despite an onslaught of delaying tactics, President Judge James Vaughn Jr. of the Superior Court offered survivors timely fair trials, exposing long hidden misdeeds to the bright light of public scrutiny.

Then, even after the two-year window closed in 2009, even handed rulings of Superior Court Judges Richard Stokes and John Parkins indicated that any recent victim who was violated after early July of 2005 will get their day in court, again as a result of the CVA.

But sadly, the example of our General Assembly and courts has not been followed in our neighboring states.

Even in light of the recent Penn State sex abuse scandal and multiple grand jury reports exposing decades of crimes within the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, the power of the institutional Catholic Church has prevented any meaningful relief in nearby Pennsylvania. All efforts also have failed in New Jersey, New York and Maryland. So while the day for justice arrived here in tiny Delaware, we all must hope for justice someday for our neighbors.