Thousands of new accusers have stalled the legal process and opened the state to up to $2.7 billion in liability
BALTIMORE — More than 3,800 people filed lawsuits under Maryland’s Child Victims Act in the two months before new limits on monetary damages took effect in June, according to a Baltimore Sun analysis of court records.
That legal mad dash could theoretically put Maryland taxpayers on the hook for billions of dollars in jury awards. It also alleges a culture of sexual abuse across decades in Maryland’s classrooms, churches, foster homes and, especially, jails.
The most significant number of allegations involve the Maryland Department of Juvenile Services, which oversees youth detention facilities, and the Catholic Church, records show. But the cases involving the jail system, and specifically the Charles H. Hickey Jr. School in Baltimore County, sharply outpace any religious body.
“Everywhere where youth-serving organizations exist, so does this issue,”…
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