Sjc Upholds Law Extending Time for Sex Abuse Lawsuits

Boston Herald
December 10, 2015

http://www.bostonherald.com/news/local_coverage/2015/12/sjc_upholds_law_extending_time_for_sex_abuse_lawsuits

Massachusetts’s highest court upheld a law extending the time sexual abuse victims have to file lawsuits against their alleged perpetrators.

The Supreme Judicial Court ruled yesterday in the case of a woman who sued her uncle in 2012, alleging he sexually abused her repeatedly between 1968 and 1977, beginning when she was 5 years old.

The uncle had reached a settlement with his niece for $26,500 in exchange for her not suing him for nine years of sexual abuse. However, after therapy, the woman later alleged her uncle forced her to have sex with other men and sued him again. The uncle’s lawyer, however, had the case dismissed.

The Legislature amended the law in 2014 to extend the statute of limitations for civil cases alleging sexual abuse of a minor from three years to 35 years and allowed it to be applied retroactively. The SJC has now upheld that law, saying it recognizes that in many cases, victims are not able to appreciate the extent of harm caused to them until years after the abuse ended.

“It’s an important victory,” said attorney Mitchell Garabedian, who represented dozens of victims in the priest sex abuse scandal. “The victims of sexual abuse cannot appreciate the harm caused until later in life. This decision gives many victims hope to access the legal process and try to gain a degree of closure.”

The uncle’s lawyer, Sylvia Katsenes, said the case is “not over by a long shot.”

“We certainly don’t admit to the allegations in the complaint,” she said. “I think were going to rely on the early settlement agreement that was signed. The case is being sent back down to Superior Court.”