Child sex abuse victims would get more time to sue

By Kristina Torres
Atlanta Journal-Constitution
March 31, 2015

http://www.ajc.com/news/news/state-regional-govt-politics/child-sex-abuse-victims-would-get-more-time-to-sue/nkjrh/

A vigil is set up in honor of Stephen Gage Berry and Stoni Ann Blair on March 27 outside of the Martin Luther King Apartments in Detroit where their bodies were found in a freezer by a crew working to evict their mother Mitchelle Blair from her apartment. Blair, who admitted to police that she killed the children, was arraigned Thursday on child abuse charges and is being held on a $1-million bond. The children’s deaths were ruled homicide on Friday after medical examiner’s reports.

Victims of childhood sexual abuse would have additional time in Georgia to seek damages from their abusers, under a bill passed unanimously Tuesday by the Senate.

House Bill 17 would for the next two years extend the statute of limitations for civil suits for anyone who was sexually abused before the age of 18, allowing past victims to seek damages if they have not yet come forward.

The bill would apply to victims of rape, sodomy, child molestation, pandering, incest or sexual battery.

Finally, victims of childhood sexual abuse would have access to records of any investigation related to the case.

The bill does not, however, permanently extend the statute of limitations for civil suits from five years to 35 years, which the bill’s sponsor, state Rep. Jason Spencer, R-Woodbine, originally proposed. The Senate also made other amendments on the floor.

Because those changes, the bill now goes back to the House for review.