Murphy will sign law Monday giving N.J. sexual abuse victims far more time to sue

By Susan K. Livio
NJ Advance Media for NJ.com
May 11, 2019

https://www.nj.com/politics/2019/05/murphy-will-sign-law-monday-giving-nj-sexual-abuse-victims-far-more-time-to-sue.html

The New Jersey Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on legislation that would expand the statute of limitations allowing victims of sex assault to sue institutions. The hearing was at the Statehouse in Trenton on March, 7.

Gov. Phil Murphy will sign the broadest law in the nation Monday that will vastly expand the amount of time victims of sexual assault will be allowed to bring a lawsuit against predators and the nonprofit organizations that employed them.

Murphy has hinted he generally supports expanding New Jersey’s two-year statute of limitations for civil lawsuits, but had not said affirmatively he would sign the bill the state Legislature approved in March.

State Sen. Joseph Vitale, D-Middlesex, the bill’s prime sponsor, said he received confirmation Murphy was signing the bill on Monday, the last day he had to act before the law took effect automatically.

When Vitale said he learned there would be no signing ceremony, as major pieces of legislation often receive, he decided to host his own event on Monday afternoon.

“It’s altogether appropriate to celebrate what is the strongest law in the nation — to provide justice to victims of rape and sexual assault and to expose predators that are still abusing children,” Vitale said.

Vitale said he and prime state Assembly sponsor Annette Quijano, D-Union, will speak alongside Mark Crawford, director of the New Jersey chapter of Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, Patricia Teffenhart, executive director of the New Jersey Coalition Against Sexual Assault, and Marci Hamilton, CEO and Academic Director of CHILDUSA, a research and advocacy organization.

“I always assumed this would be a public event,” Vitale said of the bill signing. “Sexual assault ranks number two behind homicide in the volume of (violent) crimes. It’s necessary to talk about this publicly.”

Murphy spokesman Mahen Gunaratna confirmed the bill would be signed Monday. He declined further comment because the legislation is still “pending.”

The bill signing is the culmination of more than 20 years of soul-bearing advocacy from victims, most of whom were raped as children by clergy and youth activity volunteers.

The New Jersey Catholic Conference, which represents the bishops, had successfully pressured lawmakers to steer clear of the legislation for many years. That changed, however, after a Pennsylvania grand jury investigated and released the names of 300 clergy members credibly accused of sexual assault last summer.

In September, New Jersey Attorney General Gurbir Grewal announced he was launching a similar effort to investigate allegations of sexual abuse by members of the clergy within the Catholic dioceses of New Jersey, and any efforts to cover up such abuse.

Earlier this week, Grewal said his office received hundreds of tips. “We’re going to be publishing a report similar to the Pennsylvania report,” Grewal said. “The people of this state have a right to know.”

The new law, which takes effect Dec. 1, allows victims to bring a civil suit up until the age of 55 or seven years after they make “the discovery" connecting their emotional and psychological injury to the sexual abuse.

Previously barred from bringing a lawsuit because they had run out of time under the existing law, victims also would get a new two-year window to pursue their case. The clock would begin Dec. 1, 2019 and close Nov. 30, 2021.

The legislation (S477) will allow adult sexual assault victims seven years to file a civil lawsuit, instead of the current two-year time limit.