Francisco F. Firmat: Disregarding Statute of Limitations Is Wrong

By Francisco F. Firmat
Orange County Register
September 4, 2013

http://www.ocregister.com/articles/years-523953-limitations-abuse.html

Victoria Martin, a victim of sexual abuse by a priest, holds a quilt with faces of other victims at the Los Angeles County Courthouse where a record $660 million settlement between the Archdiocese of Los Angeles and plaintiffs who alleged they were sexually abused by clergy members was presented for approval by a judge on July 16, 2007 in Los Angeles.

As early as this week the California State Assembly will vote on Senate Bill 131, proposed legislation authored by state Sen. Jim Beall, D-Campbell, that seeks to amend the current California Statute of Limitations (Code of Civil Procedure Section 340.1). It relates to the filing of civil lawsuits concerning the abuse of minors. Senate Bill 131 offers no additional protections to children nor does it increase criminal penalties for abusers. This is bad legislation that should not be enacted.

Childhood sexual abuse is wrong, evil and an affront to all our concepts of decency. It is a crime against the innocent and the defenseless that causes lifetime harm. It is a betrayal of trust, a violation of the child's dignity and a scandal that it occurs in America within our public and private institutions. It deserves to be extinguished and its perpetrators severely punished. The victims deserve monetary compensation. However, allowing a lawsuit to be brought 20 or more years after the abuse is a wrong solution and very bad public policy.

Statutes of limitations have existed in this country since our nation was founded and serve the important purpose of assuring that evidence be fresh and thus trustworthy and that the plaintiff be diligent; it is deemed unfair that a defendant have to defend a stale lawsuit where evidence has not been preserved. Some of the best-known California Statutes of Limitations have the following filing limitations:

An assault and battery action must be brought within two years.

An oral contract action must be brought within two years; if a written contract within four years.

Medical malpractice within one year from discovery or three years from injury, whichever comes first.

A libel or slander action must be brought within one year.

A fraud action must be brought within three years.

Actions on promissory notes can be brought sixyears from the due date; this long statute of limitations is justified by the limited issues involved; is there a written note and if so has it been paid?

Some statutes of limitations allow a three year extension from the time of the discovery of the injury and a tolling of the above statute of limitations until an injured minor turns 18 years of age.

Currently, CCP 340.1 already provides an extraordinarily long statute of limitations and tolling for cases of childhood sexual abuse; within eight years after the minor reaches the age of majority or within three years of the date the plaintiff discovers or reasonably should have discovered that psychological injury was caused by childhood sexual abuse, whichever date occurs later.

SB131 proposes a one-year filing time window that would allow a further expansion on actions for childhood sexual abuse if the plaintiff's 26th birthday was before Jan. 1, 2003 and the plaintiff discovered the cause of his or her injuries on or after Jan. 1, 2004.

In other words these lawsuits would involve incidents that occurred a minimum of 20 years ago! Perhaps even 30, 40, 50, 60 years ago! This delay assures that the evidence will be stale and that defendants memory and records will make it difficult to present a fair defense.

Further, this legislation is unfair because it targets certain defendants while shielding other defendants; it targets sexual abuse in private schools, church schools and non-profit organizations and fails to include the much larger pool of public schools, city recreation leagues and government. This is bad public policy, and this is a bill that should not be enacted.