LANSING (MI)
MLive [Walker MI]
November 1, 2023
By Jordyn Hermani
Survivors of decades-old sexual assaults may soon get a two-year period to bring civil cases against their alleged abuser while also seeing the actionable window for bringing a claim expanded under moves made by House lawmakers Tuesday.
Members of the House Criminal Justice Committee voted along party lines to advance legislation – HB 4482 through HB 4487, referred to as the “Justice for Survivors” package – which seeks to primarily allow victims of childhood sexual abuse the ability to bring forward their claims long after the act has occurred.
Under the package, the statute of limitations for when a survivor of sexual assault can bring civil action in court would be increased from age 28 to 52 – the average age a sexual assault victim discloses if they’d been sexually abused. It would also, once enacted, allow for a two-year window from its implementation date for victims to bring action regardless of how long ago the assault occurred.
The six-bill package continues revamped efforts in the statehouse to bolster rights for abuse survivors after revelations Larry Nassar and Robert Anderson – former sports doctors at Michigan State University and the University of Michigan, respectively – sexually assaulted patients for years.
Rep. Julie Brixie, D-Meridian Township, in explaining changes to the bills since June noted Michigan’s “own laws here … harbor sexual predators and silence their victims,” due in part to the state’s “narrow statute of limitations for criminal sexual conduct.”
“If the bills, as they’re before you today, are enacted, both Larry Nassar survivors and Robert Anderson survivors would have a pathway to justice,” Brixie said.
But changes made to the package Oct. 31, prior to being sent to the full House for a vote, amended the range of public entities that could be liable for criminal sexual conduct complaints to just educational intuitions – including K-12 schools – rather than a previous iteration which also included government actors as well.
“Why are we treating victims differently who claim assault at a municipal level than those who claim assault at schools and universities? That seems very cynical,” Rep. Graham Filler, R-Duplain Township, said in questioning the change.
Filler was vocally opposed to the package as written on Tuesday, though was able to get one amendment adopted which removed the possibility of second and third degree criminal sexual conduct charges from being retroactively enforced if past the statute of limitations.
First degree criminal sexual conduct, or rape, does not have any statute of limitations. Second, Third and Fourth degree criminal sexual conduct cases, which lack a sexual penetration aspect, have a statute of limitations of 10 years or by the alleged victim’s 21st birthday, whichever date is later.
“The retroactive nature of this is really my concern,” Filler told reporters following the hearing. “I think it’s going to bring a lot of unprovable claims. … Say we have a 30 or 40-year-old claim which can’t be brough now, but under these bills, that will be brought, there’s no evidence – no physical evidence: It’s going to be really difficult to individuals to prove that, or not prove it.”
Lawmakers first heard testimony on the package in early June, though two additional survivors appeared to testify with respect to their own journey of seeking justice for childhood sexual assaults.
One of them, 74-year-old Greg Guggemos, spoke at length of his inability to remember the months he spent at St. Vincent Catholic Charities Children’s Home in 1954. Decades later, Guggemos decided to try and revisit the orphanage to see if it would jog his memory.
But upon setting foot in the building, something came to him: How the linoleum of the floors used to look. It was then, he said, that his heart began to race. Knots formed in his stomach. He began to hyperventilate.
It was just the thought of the linoleum, Guggemos said, that began to reawaken memories he’d later discuss at length with a psychologist. Among those – standing on a table, naked, at five-years-old in the basement of the rectory.
He’d been sexually abused, though decided not to pursue charges out of concern “such disclosure would be embarrassing to me and my family,” as well as hurt his Lansing-area law practice. Still, he’d thought it important to speak out, and years later was able to settle with the diocese despite being unable to bring claims in a court of law due to the statute of limitations being long past.
“This proposed legislation, when enacted, will protect our victims of sexual abuse by exposing and deteriorating those predators who who commit and the enablers who conceal this horrific conduct,” Guggemos said. “It will provide an avenue to help all the wounded victims by giving each of them a chance for healing, closure, validation and justice.
“Victims of sexual abuse need this legislation to be passed, so their cries for help will no longer be silenced by the statute of limitations.”
The bills now await a vote of the full House before being sent over to the Senate for consideration.