MINNESOTA
St. Cloud Times
Written by
David Unze
The rise in the number of clergy sex abuse lawsuits filed since June is tied to a state law passed last year.
The Minnesota Child Victims Act eliminates for three years the six-year civil statute of limitations for lawsuits alleging the sexual abuse of minors. It allows now-adult victims of sexual abuse a three-year window to file a lawsuit regardless of when the abuse happened.
It means that lawsuits that typically would have been dismissed or not filed at all because of the statute of limitations can proceed through the court process.
The law went into effect June 1, 2013; less than one week later a Sauk Rapids man filed suit against a St. John’s Abbey priest for abuse that he said happened in 1977.
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