MINNESOTA
Duluth News Tribune
By Tom Olsen on Jun 5, 2016
It’s been a little more than a week since the Minnesota Child Victims Act expired, bringing a close to a three-year window that provided legal recourse for victims of decades-old child sexual abuse cases.
The legislation allowed hundreds of victims to come forward for the first time. It led to a whopping $4.9 million verdict in November. Both the Diocese of Duluth and the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis cited an abundance of claims stemming from the law in filing for bankruptcy.
And while the window is now closed, it could be years before the full effects of the law are seen for both victims and the Catholic Church.
“Honestly, I think this is just the beginning,” victims’ advocate Megan Peterson said. “We have all these civil suits that have been filed, and we’re going to continue to fight for the release of documents and work to expose perpetrators that have been covered up.”
The U.S. Bankruptcy Court reported that 125 abuse claims were filed against the Diocese of Duluth, which entered Chapter 11 protection in December. A majority came in the final weeks before the deadline.
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