ANNAPOLIS, Md. — Maryland Child Victims Act of 2023 is constitutional, according to a February 3 ruling from the State Supreme Court.
The act went into effect last October allowing victims of child sex abuse to sue their alleged perpetrators without any statute of limitations.
This stemmed from a 456 page investigative report into sexual abuse within the Archdiocese of Baltimore.
The act overrode previous state legislation passed in 2017 which gave victims a limit of 20-years to file civil action.
Arising from this revised act was a federal lawsuit against The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (LDS).
A woman claimed being sexually abused as a child between 1983 and 1985 at an LDS congregation in Camp Springs, Maryland.
Before hearing the case, the federal judge ordered Maryland's Supreme Court to rule on the act's constitutionality.
If deemed unconstitutional, the woman would be unable to bring legal action against the church due to elapsed time.
LDS attorneys argued the act violated Article 24 of Maryland's Declaration of Rights.
The Maryland Supreme Court on Monday disagreed, paving the way for floods of lawsuits that have already been filed since the Child Victims Act went into effect.
"We hold that the relevant provision of the 2017 law created a statute of limitations and that the running of a statute of limitations does not establish a vested right to be free from liability from the underlying cause of action," wrote Chief Justice Matthew Fader. "We further hold that it was within the power of the General Assembly to retroactively abrogate that statute of limitations. The Child Victims Act of 2023 is therefore constitutional as applied to the defendants in the three cases before us."
To read the full ruling, click here.
