House Bill Would Give Sex Abuse Victims Two Years to Sue in Cases Too Old to Prosecute

Florida Times-Union
March 16, 2015

http://jacksonville.com/news/crime/2015-03-16/story/house-bill-would-give-sex-abuse-victims-two-years-sue-cases-too-old

ATLANTA |Adults would get two years to sue people they accuse of sexually abusing them as children even if the statute of limitations had already expired under a law pending in the Georgia Senate.

House Bill 17, the Hidden Predator Act, was one of the flurry of bills approved Friday ahead of a deadline for passing bills out the House or Senate.

The proposal from Rep. Jason Spencer, R-Woodbine, was significantly changed in the House Judiciary Committee, but according to the author, it still provides new access to the courts for those who claim to be victims.

“It’s not like we’re doing something unusual nationally because it’s a movement,” said Spencer, who noted that other states have either recently enacted similar laws or are considering doing so.

If approved by the Senate and signed into law by the governor, the bill would give victims a pair of additional opportunities to sue their alleged attackers after age 23 and the expiration of the statute of limitations.

First, they would get two years to sue from the date they disclose a sexual assault, a provision designed to address people who repress the experience until middle age when therapy brings it to light. They would have authority to conduct interviews and gain access to sealed criminal investigations in which they were the victim. Still, they would have to convince a judge of the likelihood of winning before an actual trial would be held.

Second, for people who have already missed both the statute of limitations and the new two-year avenue, the bill creates a one-time window of opportunity to file suit until 2017.

Suits against an accused predator would have to demonstrate that the preponderance of the evidence proves an assault occurred. Suits against a church, business, sports league or other entity that shares responsibility for the assault would have to meet the tougher standard of proof for clear and convincing evidence.

HB 17 will be assigned to a Senate committee Wednesday in time for consideration in the final 10 days of the legislative session.