CALIFORNIA
Sacramento Bee
[Gov. Brown’s statement]
October 12, 2013
Jerry Brown invokes Roman law, vetoes statute of limitations bill for sex abuse victims
Invoking a legal tradition of “fairness” dating back to Roman law, Gov. Jerry Brown on Saturday vetoed legislation that would have extended the statute of limitations for some sex abuse victims.
Senate Bill 131, by Sen. Jim Beall, D-San Jose, would have opened a yearlong window for sex abuse victims who were excluded from a 2003 law that extended the statute of limitations.
Opponents painted the bill as an attack on the Catholic Church, and the church’s political arm called it a money grab by trial lawyers.
Brown, a former Catholic seminarian, issued an unusually lengthy, three-page veto message.
“Statutes of limitation reach back to Roman law and were specifically enshrined in the English common law by the Limitations Act of 1623,” he wrote. “Ever since, and in every state, including California, various limits have been imposed on the time when lawsuits may still be initiated. Even though valid and profoundly important claims are at stake, all jurisdictions have seen fit to bar actions after a lapse of years.”
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