Breaking: Maryland lawmakers use unusual maneuver to revive bill on child abuse lawsuits

An effort to give survivors of child sexual abuse more time to file lawsuits that failed in the Maryland Senate has been resurrected by the House of Delegates.

Democratic Del. C.T. Wilson’s bill to remove a statute of limitations for lawsuits rising from child sexual abuse had sailed through the House, but died in a deadlocked Senate committee.

The defeat frustrated Wilson and abuse survivors.

So, the House Judiciary Committee, in an unusual move, took many elements of Wilson’s bill and tacked them Saturday onto an unrelated bill from Sen. Justin Ready — a Carroll County Republican who is one of the senators who voted against the abuse lawsuit bill in committee.

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The House adopted the amendments and moved the revised measure forward to a final vote on Monday — the final day of the 90-day General Assembly session. Any changes to the bill would need to be approved by the Senate in order to send the measure to the governor.

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Ready was among five senators who voted against Wilson’s bill in the Judicial Proceedings Committee, citing questions about its constitutionality.

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Zirkin said he supports both bills and hopes a conference committee will work out a compromise where both measures can be enacted.

https://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/politics/bs-md-abuse-bill-revived-20190406-story.html

Md. Senate panel rejects effort to give childhood sex abuse victims more flexibility to sue

A Senate panel has voted down a bill that would have let childhood sex abuse victims of any age sue institutions that harbored their attackers.

The legislation, proposed amid a global clergy sex abuse scandal, had passed the House of Delegates overwhelmingly last month. But the Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee declined to advance it on Wednesday, with one Democrat joining the committee’s four Republicans in voting it down.

The bill had become a heightened source of controversy in Annapolis after its lead sponsor accused the Catholic Church of swindling himinto a deal that may have granted the organization irreversible immunity from sex abuse cases that happened decades ago.

The deal, part of a 2017 law extending the civil statute of limitations, was a key reason cited by a senator who voted against this year’s proposal...

...Del. C.T. Wilson (D-Charles), the bill’s sponsor and himself a victim of childhood sex abuse at the hands of his adoptive father, was shaking in anger after the committee vote. He said the lawmakers who voted down the bill were complicit in helping institutions protect predators...

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/md-politics/maryland-panel-votes-down-effort-to-give-more-rights-to-childhood-sex-abuse-victims/2019/04/03/df60045e-565d-11e9-9136-f8e636f1f6df_story.html?utm_term=.747f9d7fde2c

Bill to lift limits on child sex abuse lawsuits in Maryland fails

A bill that would have enabled untold numbers of child sexual abuse survivors to file civil lawsuits in Maryland has been defeated.

The Senate’s Judicial Proceedings Committee on Wednesday deadlocked 5-5 on the measure, which would have eliminated the statute of limitations for civil claims related to child sexual abuse. The bill had already sailed through the House of Delegates.

The committee vote infuriated Del. C.T. Wilson, the bill’s sponsor and a survivor of child abuse himself. “They did their best to protect pedophiles,” an angry Wilson said in an interview after the vote.

Wilson observed the committee’s voting session, which he said featured a “tornado” of misinformation about the law and his bill.

Even though Wilson was present, he said none of the senators asked him questions about his bill. He said senators were “cowards” not to discuss the bill with him...

https://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/politics/bs-md-abuse-limits-bill-20190403-story.html

When Maryland gave abuse victims more time to sue, it may have also protected institutions, including the Catholic Church

Two years ago, Maryland lawmakers made it easier for adults sexually abused as children to sue institutions that harbored predators.

They may have also irreversibly granted some immunity to the Catholic Church.

A provision tucked into a 2017 law now stands in the way of Maryland joining a nationwide effort to bring justice to victims who come to terms with childhood abuse when they reach middle age and, for decades, have had no recourse in civil courts.

The language was pushed by lobbyists for the Catholic Church two years ago as part of a compromise to extend Maryland’s civil statute of limitations from age 25 to 38. Because it forbids the state from raising the maximum age above 38, it effectively inoculates the church and other organizations from costly lawsuits that could reveal whether they sheltered abusers decades ago.

State lawmakers who heralded the 2017 compromise as a breakthrough for victims now say they were swindled.

“I made a deal with the devil,” said Del. C.T. Wilson (D-Charles), the sponsor of the 2017 law and a survivor of child sex abuse by his adoptive father.

“I was working with them in good faith,” Wilson, a lawyer, said of the church. “They were behind the scenes, crafting language that protects them forever.”..

...In interviews, several other lawmakers who negotiated the compromise recalled the two church lobbyists who shopped the repose provision, saying they did not want to repeatedly revisit extending the statute of limitations. The lawmakers said they now believe they unwittingly agreed to language that could permanently prevent anyone born before the early 1980s from suing the church...

...Permanent immunity “was never discussed,” said Del. Vanessa E. Atterbeary, (D-Howard), a lawyer who is vice chair of the Judiciary Committee.

“I was in meetings with the Archbishop of Baltimore,” she said. “That’s the sort of conversation I would have remembered.”

Church lobbyist John Stierhoff declined to comment on how the provision got into law. Mary Ellen Russell, the executive director of the Maryland Catholic Conference at the time, declined to comment because she no longer works for the organization...

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/when-maryland-gave-abuse-victims-more-time-to-sue-it-may-have-also-protected-institutions-including-the-catholic-church/2019/03/31/769537ca-4f3a-11e9-911a-7d51996d6f38_story.html?utm_term=.0f424f458a8b

Delegate, Survivors Push to End Limitations on Child Sex Abuse Claims

Dozens of sexual assault survivors filled the seats of the Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee on Thursday afternoon as the panel considered a measure to get rid of the statute of limitations for filing civil lawsuits. And after emotional testimony from Del. C.T. Wilson (D-Charles), a survivor of abuse himself, they stood up behind him in silent solidarity.

Some of the survivors, wearing all white, carried pictures of their younger selves. Jena Cochrane held a photo of herself, at 12 years old, wearing a red dress with white lace trim and a flower in her hair. Six months later she would be raped, changing her life forever.

Though she has testified on bills as an advocate for children in the past, this year is the first time Cochrane shared her own story with lawmakers. She wants them to understand why abuse victims may take years to come to terms with what happened before seeking justice in civil courts.

“You as a victim sometimes get a life sentence, while the law protects perpetrators with a statute of limitations,” Cochrane said. “That’s not fair. We want an opportunity so that when we’re brave enough to come forward, we have a platform to speak.”

Wilson has sponsored House Bill 687, or the Hidden Predator Act of 2019. The bill would get rid of the state’s statute of limitations for civil claims against perpetrators of child sex abuse – and would also include a two-year look-back window, a time in which victims could bring claims in cases where the previous statute of limitations has expired...

https://www.marylandmatters.org/2019/03/29/delegate-survivors-push-to-end-limitations-on-child-sex-abuse-claims/

Delegate C.T. Wilson Before Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee Presenting Hidden Predator Act of 2019

Listen to Delegate C.T. Wilson's advocacy on behalf of children who have been sexually abused.

Delegate Wilson is attempting to have Maryland eliminate the Statute of Limitations in civil cases involving the sexual abuse of children, and to allow for a two year "look back" window for these victims.

If you watched the Netflix documentary "The Keepers" you will recognize Delegate Wilson.  He was the Maryland legislator in the final episodes of "The Keepers" who exposed that the Maryland legislature has been covering for the crimes of the Catholic Church for decades by preventing legislation that would aid victims from even being heard or voted on.

Will the Maryland legislature continue to cover for the Catholic Church in 2019?

Delegate C.T. Wilson speaking today before the Maryland Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee.

Advocates For Victims Of Child Sex Abuse Urge Lawmakers To Lift Statute Of Limitations For Reporting Abuse

Guest Post: Abbie Schaub of "The Keepers" on MD Bill to eliminate Statute of Limitations in Civil Cases re: Sexual Abuse of Children #Netflix

The New Jersey legislature just passed a bill allowing adults who were sexually abused as minors to file civil lawsuits until age 55, and also added a unique inclusion saying anyone can file a suit up until the age of 55 OR seven years after they make “the discovery” connecting emotional and psychological injury to their abuse. That phrase creates a 7 year window when anyone regardless of age can file a civil suit. Took them two decades to get that done due to opposition from the Catholic Church. I think nine states have opened some form of limited time window that allow civil lawsuits for damages done in the past regardless of someone’s age.

Meanwhile in Maryland, current SOL [Statute of Limitations] law bans civil lawsuits by anyone harmed if they are older than 38. Maryland House Bill 687, the Hidden Predator Act of 2019, has passed the House and is in the Senate. This bill will abolish time limits going forward for people sexually abused as minors but that would not help anyone harmed before the bill passes. It has an amendment creating a two year window during which those older than 38 now could file civil lawsuits. The Archdiocese of Baltimore, The Archdiocese of Washington DC and the Wilmington, Delaware diocese (all three have parts of Maryland under their domains) fund a professional lobbying group called the Maryland Catholic Conference which is working to defeat the bill. It seems language banning retroactive windows was slipped into a footnote as codified language on the 2017 Statutes of Limitations, unknown to us as was not in the bill itself. First senate hearing will be in afternoon session of the Senate Judiciary Process group [March 28, 2019]  and I and others will attend - not allowed to give testimony as only bill sponsor [Delegate] CT WIlson can do that.

With clergy sexual abuse of minors, most people harmed will never speak of it; it’s estimated only 6% ever do, and the average

“age of disclosure” in one study was thought to be 52 years old.

They are not asking for rules of evidence to be changed, or special treatment in the court system - they are asking for what I thought was an American right - for their day in court to present their case. Right now, arbitrary time limits designed to protect the abusers and organizations which foster them ban them from civil action. This is unfair and needs to be corrected.

Abbie Schaub

“If I don’t make it to next year, I’m going to give you guys one hell of a fight this year,” Wilson tearfully concluded.

Md. looks at eliminating statute of limitations for sex abuse

Maryland’s House of Delegates is considering a bill that would eliminate the statute of limitations in civil claims of child sex abuse.

The House Judiciary Committee heard testimony on the bill on Thursday from survivors and advocates. Among them were the bill’s sponsor, Del. C.T. Wilson, who was sexually abused as a child himself.

In addition to firsthand accounts of abuse, the committee heard from various survivor organizations, as well as those who deal with legally pursuing sex abuse cases.

“There are people here, who probably won’t be here next year,” Wilson said in his opening statement to the committee. “And some of them are going to take their own lives, or their lives will end early because of what they went through.”

“If I don’t make it to next year, I’m going to give you guys one hell of a fight this year,” Wilson tearfully concluded.

No one at the hearing spoke in opposition to the bill...

https://wtop.com/maryland/2019/03/md-looks-at-eliminating-statute-of-limitations-for-sex-abuse/

How a Silver Spring MCPS Teacher Faked His Own Death to Avoid Civil or Criminal Penalties for Sexual Abuse of a Student

HouseBill 687

Civil Actions – Child Sexual Abuse – Statute of Limitations

Janis Zink Sartucci

On Behalf of the Parents’ Coalition of Montgomery County, Maryland

February 28, 2019

SUPPORT

As a member of the Parents’ Coalition of Montgomery County, Maryland, I have been tracking cases involving the sexual abuse of students by Montgomery County Public School (MCPS) staff for over 5 years. As part of this work, I attend court hearings involving these cases and listen to the audio transcripts of sentencing hearing. Many times I have been the only member of the public in the courtroom during sentencing proceedings.

Today I am going to tell you about what one of the victims of sexual abuse by a MCPS teacher said at that perpetrator’s sentencing hearing. I am bringing her words to this committee so that you can understand why it may take a child an indeterminate amount of time to report childhood sexual abuse. There is no set timeline when a child that has been abused is able to come forward and for that reason the statute of limitations in these cases should be eliminated.

Former MCPS music teacher Lawrence Joynes was arrested by Homeland Security in February of 2013 for sending child pornography videos to a man in South Carolina. Initially, MCPS and the press reported that the charges did not involve MCPS students. However, when investigators looked at the pornographic images that Joynes was transmitting, they saw that they were pictures of children in a classroom. When the news broke that Joynes had been arrested on child abuse and pornography charges his mugshot was on the news. A person who was now an adult in her mid 30’s saw the news and recognized Joynes as the MCPS teacher who had sexually abused and raped her 20 years earlier.

At the sentencing hearing of Lawrence Joynes that adult victim spoke to the court.

The adult had been sexually abused and raped by Lawrence Joynes when she was 12, 13 and 14 years old in 1991, 1992 and 1993. The victim described the pain, humiliation and suffering that she had endured after being victimized by Joynes. She had years of trauma, night sweats, and insomnia. In 2005 and now in her mid 20’s, she finally decided to confront Joynes about the abuse, she found he had a website. She attempted to contact Joynes through an e-mail account listed on his website. The day after she sent an e-mail to the website, Joynes’ website announced that Lawrence Joynes had been found dead. He had left a suicide note stating that “today was a good day to die.” The victim blamed herself for his death.

Then in 2009 the victim discovered a teacher named Lawrence Joynes at a MCPS school. She contacted this person and he responded that he was Lawrence Joynes’ nephew and that Joynes had killed himself years earlier. The nephew exchanged e-mails with the victim. In fact, Lawrence Joynes was pretending to be the nephew.

The victim believed that Lawrence Joynes was dead until 2013 when she saw the news story about his arrest on child pornography charges. The victim said her “world collapsed” that day. Not only did she realize that Lawrence Joynes was still alive 20 years after he had abused her, but also that he had gone on to sexually abuse over a dozen more children. She summoned the courage to call the police and for the first time in 20 years, said out loud the crimes against her that Lawrence Joynes had committed. The police made her give detailed accounts of each sexual encounter and made her go back to the locations where Joynes had assaulted and raped her. She had to go back to Eastern Middle School in Silver Spring and other locations where Joynes had taken her. She said the trauma all came back to her.

The victim did not want to go forward with pressing charges. She did not want to retell the abuse over and over. She did not want to see details of the crime against her in the news. But, all she could do was think about the 14 elementary school children that Joynes’ had sexually abused and photographed in the intervening years. She had an overwhelming feeling of guilt that Joynes had been able to convince her he was dead, had faked another identity and had gone on to sexually abuse over a dozen more children. She wanted to end her own life.

She said Joynes ruined her life. She will never be whole. She said she never had the chance to become the person she was meant to be. She said he stole this from her, he stole her childhood, he stole her teenage years. She said he raped the good in her and raped her soul.

MCPS teacher Lawrence Joynes had successfully faked his own death and put off a victim from pursuing legal action against him for over a decade. 

WBAL: Bill Eliminates Statute of Limitations for Child Sexual Abuse Victims to File Civil Claims

https://www.wbaltv.com/article/statute-of-limitations-for-child-sex-abuse-victims-in-civil-claims/26576661

WUSA9 Maryland delegates consider statute of limitations and child sex abuse case

WASHINGTON — Advocates and child sex abuse survivors will stand before members of the Maryland House of Delegates on Thursday to testify. The judiciary committee will have a bill before them that would remove the statute of limitations for all child sex abuse cases.

Currently, Maryland law says a victim has until age 38 to file a civil lawsuit. However, those who are older than 25 when they come forward must prove gross negligence, which is something notoriously difficult to prove.

Maryland Delegate C.T. Wilson of Charles County was part of the negotiations for the current law and has sponsored the proposed bill. The delegate has been open about the sexual abuse he experienced as a child.

“I don’t believe [38-years-old] is enough time. That was a negotiation I had with the Catholic Church at the time, as well as the gross negligence, and I’m not negotiating anymore,” said Wilson.

Delegate Wilson says House Bill 687, which will be before the House Judiciary Committee on Thursday for a hearing, would remove the statute of limitations. 

The bill would make it so a child sex abuse victim could file a lawsuit no matter their age. Wilson is also adding what’s called a “two-year look back window” to include anyone precluded by the statute of limitations...

https://www.wusa9.com/article/news/maryland-delegates-consider-statute-of-limitations-and-child-sex-abuse-case/65-c37c22e1-ebe9-4d18-ab06-3200a2cd4c4c

Delegate C.T. Wilson files Bill to Eliminate Statue of Limitations in Child Sexual Abuse Cases

House Bill 687

 A Public Hearing will be held on this Bill on 2/28 at 1:00 p.m.