MONTGOMERY (AL)
Alabama Reflector [Montgomery AL]
March 21, 2024
By Alander Rocha
The legislation would give those who suffered sexual abuse while in the Boy Scouts the ability to press claims against the organization.
The Alabama House of Representatives Thursday approved a bill that would allow Alabamians who suffered sexual abuse while in the Boys Scouts of America to press claims against the organization.
SB 18, sponsored by Sen. Merika Coleman, D-Pleasant Grove, and carried in the House by Rep. Matt Simpson, R-Daphne, a former Baldwin County child victims prosecutor, would lift the state’s statute of limitations for civil claims on sexual abuse to allow those abused in the Boy Scouts of America to file claims with The Scouting Settlement Trust.
“There was a fund that was created for assets for members with a settlement trust from people in the boy scouts who were affected by sexual abuse. This would allow Alabama citizens to be able to recover from that fund,” Simpson said in introducing the bill.
Claims would come from a $2.7 billion fund established after the Boy Scouts filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2020 amid several lawsuits. The trust allows victims of sexual abuse to claim between $3,500 and $2.7 million.
The bill passed 100-0 without discussion on the House floor. The provisions of the bill expire on Dec. 31, 2026.
Alabama law requires victims of sexual abuse as children to bring civil claims before they turn 25. A March 2020 Child USA report said the average age of disclosure for child sexual abuse is 52.
After the bill passed the Senate, survivors, like Gill Gayle and Stuart Vance, voiced support for both bills, emphasizing the urgent need for justice.
“We knew that it would be a challenge to get it passed, especially passed by the end of March, which is pretty much our deadline for getting a bill to help out our scouting brethren here,” Vance said in early March.
Leigh Corfman, who accused former Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore of initiating a sexual encounter when she was 14 and he was 32, which Moore denies, said victims face financial and emotional challenges when seeking legal recourse, particularly when the abuse occurs when young.
“At age 25, your brain’s just now getting to where it’s all grown up,” Corfman said then. “At the age 25, most people are not financially set to be able to take a court case.”
Opposition came from Sen. Greg Albritton, R-Atmore in early March, who cited concerns about evidence degradation. Simpson stressed the need to prioritize victims’ rights over time constraints.
“It’s always best the closer you have to time frame as to the evidence, but that’s going to have to be something that’s left up to the attorneys for that case and for the people that file that suit,” he said in early March.
The bill goes to the governor.