PENNSYLVANIA
Standard Speaker
OPINION / PUBLISHED: APRIL 9, 2017
Enabling victims of child sexual abuse to seek damages after they become adults is a no-brainer in concept. But the tortured path of a bill in the state Legislature to expand that opportunity demonstrates that the matter is far more complex in practice.
State law gives child sexual abuse victims until they are 30, or 12 years after they become adults at 18, to sue alleged perpetrators for damages. Victims’ advocates argue that the window is too narrow because of the psychological damage that many victims suffer. They contend that it takes longer than the allowed time period for many victims to fully realize the implications of the abuse they suffered as children.
Legislators generally are sympathetic. Last year the House passed a bill, 180-15, to vastly expand that window to age 50, and to make it retroactive. It exempted public institutions such as school districts and maintained liability caps under sovereign immunity law, meaning that the change mostly would affect private institutions, especially the Catholic Church. The bill passed the House amid revelations of sex abuse charges in the Johnstown-Altoona Diocese.
The legislation died amid powerful push-back from the church and the insurance industry.
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