MASSACHUSETTS
Boston Globe

By John R. Ellement GLOBE STAFF DECEMBER 09, 2015

In a ruling long sought by survivors of sexual abuse, the Supreme Judicial Court on Wednesday upheld a law expanding the statute of limitations for civil lawsuits against alleged perpetrators to 35 years and allowing the new standard to be applied retroactively.

The 2014 law flows from the “apparent recognition that in many cases, victims of child abuse are not able to appreciate the extent or the cause of harm they experience as a result of sexual abuse perpetrated on them for many years after the abuse has ended,’’ Justice Margot Botsford wrote for the unanimous court.

Among other reasons, the court upheld the law because anyone who abused a child 35 years ago knew what they were doing was wrong at that time, and they cannot now claim a lawsuit in 2015 is based on…