TRENTON (NJ)
Politico
March 7, 2019
By Matt Friedman
A bill to expand New Jersey’s statute of limitations on sexual abuse lawsuits appears on its way to passage after being stalled in Trenton for years, thanks in part to the release last year of a Pennsylvania grand jury report into sexual abuse by Catholic clergy.
“Every single day that passes without changing this law is a reminder to [victims] that they don’t matter,” said state Sen. Joe Vitale (D-Middlesex), the bill’s sponsor.
The Senate Judiciary Committee voted, 8-1, Thursday to approve the bill, NJ S477 (18R), which allows victims of child sexual abuse up to 37 years after they turn 18 to file a lawsuit against their perpetrators and the institutions that harbored them. Beyond the age of 55, victims would have seven years from the time they realize the abuse has damaged them to file suit.
It’s a massive expansion of New Jersey’s current law, which only allows adult victims just two years from the time they realize the abuse has damaged them to file suit.
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