BURLINGTON (VT)
VTDigger
June 3, 2019
By Xander Landen
Gov. Phil Scott last week signed a new law that removes the time limit for victims of child sexual abuse to bring civil claims against their abusers.
Scott also signed a bill that will extend the statute of limitations for criminal offenses including manslaughter and sexual exploitation of a vulnerable adult.
The bill eliminating the six-year statute of limitations for civil child sexual abuse cases, H.330, was a priority for the House Judiciary Committee this year.
It was largely inspired by a December conference in which Rachael Denhollander, a former gymnast and the first woman to publicly accuse former USA Gymnastics team doctor Larry Nassar of sexual assault, addressed Vermont officials at the Statehouse.
Denhollander pointed to the statute of limitations as a key problem for adjudicating child sexual abuse: often, survivors can’t process what’s happened to them – let alone decide to come forward – until it’s too late.
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