Efforts Underway to Strengthen Lawsuits Against Sexual Predators

By Katheryn Hayes Tucker
Daily Report
July 27, 2017

http://www.dailyreportonline.com/recent-news/id=1202794143530/Efforts-Underway-to-Strengthen-Lawsuits-Against-Sexual-Predators?mcode=1202616187678&curindex=2

Following the dismissal of the deep pockets in lawsuits against institutions accused of allowing sexual abuse of children to continue in secret, lawyers and lawmakers are teaming up to toughen Georgia's Hidden Predator Act in the next legislative session.

Plaintiffs attorneys are gathering with legislators at the Capitol for a news conference Aug. 2 at 9:30 a.m. to discuss strengthening the current Hidden Predator Act. The law opened a window for survivors of childhood sexual abuse to file lawsuits without being shut down by the statute of limitations. Several plaintiffs attorneys filed lawsuits before the July 1 deadline.

But earlier this month, Cobb County Superior Court Judge LaTain Kell dismissed the defendants with the most ability to pay—the Boy Scouts of America and the First Baptist Church of Gainesville, ruling that the law exempted the institutions from liability and leaving only individual scout and church leaders in the case.

"I am holding this press conference in light of the recent developments regarding litigation implicating child sexual abuse cover-ups by various organizations," said Rep. Jason Spencer, R-Woodbine, the primary author of the Hidden Predator Act, in a news release. "The details of these cases highlight the need for new and tougher changes to the current Hidden Predator Act. It is necessary that we address many of the injustices uncovered in recent child sexual abuse litigation and the short comings of a shortened statute of limitations."