GUAM
Pacific Daily News
Gaynor Dumat-ol Daleno, gdumat-ol@guampdn.com May 23, 2016
Legislation introduced Monday morning would lift any time limit on filing lawsuits against alleged child molesters.
Sen. Frank F. Blas Jr.’s Bill 326 states: “victims of child sexual abuse that occurred on Guam who have been barred from filing suit against their abusers by virtue of the expiration of the civil statute of limitations shall be permitted to file those claims in the Guam Superior Court.”
Guam lawmakers in the past temporarily gave victims of child sexual abuse a two-year limit to file a lawsuit, and that window has closed.
This bill would not restrict the filing of a lawsuit against a child sex abuser or child molester who committed the act before this bill would become law, according to Blas.
“There is no restriction on retroactive cases,” he said.
Blas’ legislation states statute of limitations — or legal time limits — “have been a particularly pressing problem in light of the delicate nature of child sex crimes; victims often need many years to overcome the pain of their abuse and time to obtain the courage needed to speak out about the abuse that they have suffered.”
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