NEW LONDON (CT)
The Day
June 18. 2019
By Joe Wojtas
Gov. Ned Lamont signed a sweeping sexual harassment bill Tuesday that establishes a commission to look into whether the state should extend the statute of limitations for filing lawsuits in sexual-assault cases.
The Connecticut chapter of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests and people who say they were sexually assaulted as minors by priests in the state’s Catholic dioceses and who are now barred from filing lawsuits because they are older than 48 had pushed for passage of Senate Bill 3.
The law extends the age to file a lawsuit to 51, five years less than the age of 56 called for in a previous amendment. The original bill called for a 27-month window in which victims could sue regardless of age and called for the elimination of the statute of limitations for anyone now under 48 for incidents that occur after Oct. 1, 2019.
The law also establishes a nine-member task force that will study whether the current statute of limitations should be amended and report its findings and recommendations to the legislature’s Judiciary Committee by Jan. 15, 2020, just before the start of the next legislative session.
The task force must look at the statute of limitations in Connecticut and other states and review claims that are barred from proceeding due to the current statute of limitations.
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