Governor Moore to sign controversial bill amending the Child Victims Act

BALTIMORE (WBFF) — A bill proposing changes to the Child Victims Act is on the way to Governor Wes Moore’s desk.

The Child Victims Act of 2023 removed the statute of limitations for filing child abuse lawsuits.

The governor’s office confirmed he plans to sign House Bill 1378 into law, taking effect on June 1.

Emily Malarkey, from Bekman, Marder, Hopper, Malarkey & Perlin, LLC, said, “The bill makes significant changes to the Child Victims Act of 2023.”

Under the original law passed in 2023, child sex abuse survivors may receive up to $1.5 million dollars per incident for claims against private institutions, while governmental agencies are limited to payouts of $890,000 per incident.

However, this new bill would slash child sex abuse survivors’ compensation to a maximum of $700,000 if abused by a private institution and $400,000 if abused by governmental agencies.

The bill would also modify the “per incident” payout.

“That means no matter how many times a child endured sexual abuse or by how many people, the survivor may only recover one cap on pain and suffering damages,” Malarkey said...

https://foxbaltimore.com/news/local/governor-moore-to-sign-controversial-bill-amending-the-child-victims-act

AG's report documents past child sexual abuse in Balt. Archdiocese

Our focus on Midday today is the Attorney General’s Report on Child Sexual Abuse in the Archdiocese of Baltimore.

A warning to our listeners: for the rest of the hour, we’re going to talk about child sexual abuse.

Yesterday, Maryland Attorney General Anthony Brown released the long-awaited Catholic clergy sexual abuse report. It chronicles more than 80 years of abuse by more than 150 Catholic clergy members, seminarians, deacons and Archdiocese employees, and their victimization of more than 600 children and young people.

The Catholic Church is by no means the only religious faith institution which has had clergy break trust and act criminally with their congregants, nor are religious institutions the only professions in which abusers prey on children. But the Catholic Church is the sole focus of this particular report...

AG's report documents past child sexual abuse in Balt. Archdiocese | WYPR

Investigations of Archdiocese of Washington, Diocese of Wilmington are ongoing, Maryland AG says [NOW DO PUBLIC SCHOOLS!]

Moments before releasing a 456-page grand jury report detailing decades of sexual abuse and cover-ups within the Archdiocese of Baltimore, Maryland Attorney General Anthony Brown said on Wednesday that his office has also been investigating the Archdiocese of Washington and Diocese of Wilmington.

Speaking to reporters at his offices in St. Paul Plaza in Baltimore, Brown said investigators launched those inquiries at the same time that they began looking into the Archdiocese of Baltimore in 2018. He described those investigations as ongoing.

“We have issued subpoenas. We have been looking into this matter. And we will continue to do so,” Brown said...

The Archdiocese of Washington and Diocese of Wilmington: Maryland AG investigating - The Baltimore Banner

Redacted report on archdiocese sexual abuse to be released soon

The Maryland Attorney General’s Office on Tuesday received a judge’s preliminary permission to release its redacted report into the history of child sexual abuse in the Archdiocese of Baltimore.

Prior to release, the office will have to eliminate specific reference to 60 individuals and redact the names of 37 others, Baltimore City Circuit Judge Robert Taylor Jr. stated in his four-page memorandum and order.

“We are pleased with the court’s order this afternoon authorizing release of a redacted version of our report on child sexual abuse by clergy in the Archdiocese of Baltimore,” Attorney General Anthony G. Brown said in a statement Tuesday. “We will work to complete the court-ordered redactions and release the report as expeditiously as possible.”

Taylor left open the possibility of the later release of an unredacted report. That would occur after the 37 people are notified and given a “suitable period” to respond. Taylor would then hold a hearing on the attorney general’s request that a final, unredacted version of the report be released.

The redacted report — based largely on grand jury testimony — identifies 158 Catholic priests accused of sexual abuse, including 43 that were never publicly named by the Archdiocese of Baltimore, as part of a four-year investigation into child sexual abuse by members of the clergy. The investigation also identified more than 600 victims of sexual abuse over the past 80 years...

Redacted report on Archdiocese of Baltimore sexual abuse may be released soon (thedailyrecord.com)

Child sex abuse victims fear delays in courts even if statute of limitations bill passes

Maryland Child Victims Act of 2023 would eliminate statute of limitations to bring civil case against abusers 

ANNAPOLIS, Md. —

Child sex abuse survivors are pushing a bill that would eliminate the statute of limitations to bring a civil case against an abuser, but they're concerned about potential delays in the courts if the bill is passed.

For the first time in years since similar legislation has been introduced, there is a political will in Annapolis to eliminate the statute of limitations and to repeal a provision giving the Catholic Church sweeping immunity from sex-abuse lawsuits...

Child sex abuse victims fear delays in courts even if bill passes (wbaltv.com)

Baltimore judge orders release of redacted Catholic church sexual abuse report

A Baltimore judge has ordered the public release of a redacted version of the Maryland Attorney General’s Office report detailing the history of childhood sexual abuse in the Catholic church.

Circuit Judge Robert Taylor presided over secret proceedings Tuesday, with attorneys representing the attorney general’s office, the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Baltimore, an anonymous group of people named in the report, and two separate groups of abuse survivors.

Taylor issued his written ruling Friday, directing the attorney general’s office to prepare a heavily-redacted report for public release...

Baltimore judge orders release of redacted Catholic church sexual abuse report – Baltimore Sun

Pass the Child Victims Act of 2023 (HB01/SB686)! Maryland: Protect Kids Not Predators

The Maryland Child Victims Act of 2023 will give survivors access to justice and help protect children from sexual abuse by bringing predators to light.

About The Child Victims Act of 2023

Read the bills HB001 and SB686.

Legislative Updates 

Email justice4mdsurvivors if you would like to help. 

Call To Action

What are The Child Victims of 2023 Act Goals?

Arm trusted adults with information to protect children

Shift the cost of abuse from victims to those who caused the harm

Provide a path to justice for victims ready to come forward

Identify Hidden Predators

Disclose facts of sex abuse epidemic to the public

The 2023 Child Victims Act :

It’s important to understand the key elements of the bill:

1. The legislation will eliminate the statute of limitations for child sexual abuse.
2. It will repeal the so-called "statute of repose".
3. It will create a permanent window for older claims.
4. It will allow both public and private entities to be sued.
5. It will eliminate the notice of claims deadlines for public entities in child sexual abuse cases.
6. The legislation will have some limitations on liability to a single claimant for injuries arising from a single incident or occurrence:
1. for retroactive claims (the statute of limitations has already run):
   • for private entities:
   1. $1.5 million cap on non-economic damages
   2. no cap on economic damages
   • for public entities:
   1. $850,000 cap for damages
2. for prospective claims (the statute of limitations has not run):
• for private entities
1. no caps on either economic or non-economic claims
• for public entities
1. $850,000 cap for damages

Advocacy Child Abuse Lobbying | Justice4mdsurvivors | Maryland

Maryland Catholic Conference will support bill to eliminate statute of limitations, but only for future cases of abuse

The lobbying group that represents Maryland’s Catholic churches said Monday that it will support legislation in the upcoming state General Assembly session that would eliminate the statute of limitations in civil suits involving future cases of child sexual abuse.

While throwing its support behind the legislation, at least as it applies to future cases, the Maryland Catholic Conference at the same time indicated it would continue to oppose a provision that survivors and their advocates have long fought for — a “look back window” that would give survivors a two-year period in which to file lawsuits alleging abuse in the past, regardless of when the abuse occurred...

...The conference’s statement also comes after The Baltimore Sun reported that the church has spent more than $200,000 in recent years to prevent lawmakers from expanding the state’s statute of limitations arising from sexual abuse claims.

The legislation in question is a bill written by a group of survivors and their attorneys. Originally titled the “Hidden Predator Act,” it would establish the two-year window for past cases. Other states, including Arizona, California, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina and Washington, D.C., have established such look-back windows for civil suits...

Maryland Catholic Conference will support bill to eliminate statute of limitations, but only for future cases of abuse – Baltimore Sun

Churches defend clergy loophole, including in Maryland, in child sex abuse reporting

It was a frigid Sunday evening at the Catholic Newman Center in Salt Lake City when the priest warned parishioners who had gathered after Mass that their right to private confessions was in jeopardy.

A new law would break that sacred bond, the priest said, and directed the parishioners to sign a one-page form letter on their way out. “I/We Oppose HB90,” began the letter, stacked next to pre-addressed envelopes. “HB90 is an improper interference of the government into the practice of religion in Utah.”

In the following days of February 2020, Utah’s Catholic diocese, which oversees dozens of churches, says it collected some 9,000 signed letters from parishioners and sent them to state Rep. Angela Romero, a Democrat who had been working on the bill as part of her campaign against child sexual abuse. HB90 targeted Utah’s “clergy-penitent privilege,” a law similar to those in many states that exempts clergy of all denominations from the requirement to report child abuse if they learn about the crime in a confessional setting.

Utah’s Catholic leaders had mobilized against HB90 arguing that it threatened the sacred privacy of confessions. More importantly, it met with disapproval from some members in the powerful Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, known as the Mormon church, whose followers comprise the vast majority of the state Legislature. HB90 was dead on arrival.

In 33 states, including Maryland, clergy are exempt from any laws requiring professionals such as teachers, physicians and psychotherapists to report information about alleged child sexual abuse to police or child welfare officials if the church deems the information privileged...

...In Maryland a successful campaign to defeat a proposal that would have closed the clergy-penitent loophole was led by a Catholic cardinal who would later be defrocked for sexually abusing children and adult seminarians...

...In 2003, as the Catholic clergy sex abuse scandal swept the nation, a bill seeking to rid Maryland of the privilege in child abuse cases evoked a strong rebuke from Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, then the powerful archbishop of the Diocese of Washington, D.C.

“If this bill were to pass, I shall instruct all priests in the Archdiocese of Washington who serve in Maryland to ignore it,” McCarrick wrote in a Catholic Standard column. “On this issue, I will gladly plead civil disobedience and willingly — if not gladly — go to jail.”

The bill withered under McCarrick’s attack and never emerged from committee. Similar legislation proposed in 2004 suffered the same fate. Today, the clergy-penitent privilege in Maryland remains intact, even though McCarrick has been defrocked for sex crimes...

Churches defend clergy loophole in child sex abuse reporting (msn.com)

@Willcsmithjr @jwaldstreicher Public Testimony From Abbie Fitzgerald Schaub of the Emmy Nominated Netflix Documentary "The Keepers" - Not Allowed at Virtual Hearing @SenatorSusanLee

Below is one of the public statements that Maryland State Senator Will Smith, Chair of the Judicial Proceedings Committee, did not allow to be delivered in person at the February 2, 2021, public hearing on Senate Bill 134. 

Testimony in Support of SB0134 
Civil Actions - Child Sexual Abuse - Definition and Statute of 
Limitations 
** Support** 
To: Hon. Chairman William Smith Jr., Vice Chair Jeff Waldstreicher and 
members of the Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee 
From: Abbie Fitzgerald Schaub, with Baltimore’s Archbishop Keough High 
School “The Keepers” Netflix documentary storytellers
Date: January 6, 2021 
 
In 2013 I began a private effort doing historical research into the
the unsolved 1969 Baltimore murder of my high school English teacher, 
Sister Catherine Cesnik. This evolved into the tragic story of sexual abuse 
of minor aged students at Archbishop Keough High School. The Emmy 
nominated Netflix documentary “The Keepers” tells our story. I had no
understanding of the lifelong damage done by this intimate betrayal of
trust. I thought it was like getting spanked - was something bad that you 
got over. I was very wrong about that. This betrayal of trust and intimate 
physical invasion creates permanent collateral damage that affects people 
their entire lives, and rolls over into harming relationships for generations 
within a family. Sexual abuse of a minor causes not just physical and 
mental difficulties but also takes a financial toll on those harmed. Under 
current Maryland SOL law, the people harmed have to bear those costs.

Trying to make sense of our Keepers story, I looked further into the
institutional systems that are supposed to protect Maryland children. It 
was clear that our Keepers’ Father A Joseph Maskell sexually abused at 
least scores of children over his life, likely hundreds, both boys and girls. 
He was sexually abusing young adolescent boys while in the seminary at 
St. Mary’s in the early 1960s and continued to abuse both boys and girls 
for over three decades in Baltimore. We have multiple anecdotal reports 
that his abuse was reported to Keough school administrators and to the 
Archdiocese of Baltimore [AOB], though the AOB says they have no 
documents in their files to confirm this. Maryland allows criminal 
prosecution of felony sex offenses as long as the defendant is alive - but Baltimore City Assistant State’s Attorney Sharon May declined to charge 
Father Maskell in 1995, despite scores of criminal complaints and dozens 
of people willing to testify. Maskell fled from the US to Ireland to avoid that 
Baltimore civil motions hearing. The 1995 hearing ended with the civil case 
dismissed because of SOL age limits, allowing him to be free to abuse 
more youngsters in Ireland before returning to Baltimore.

 
There are other local hidden predators who are known but never criminally 
charged. There are also multiple clergy abusers from other states sent to 
Maryland to live, for example at a Jesuit retirement home in Baltimore and 
an Oblate retirement home in Childs, Maryland. Hundreds, perhaps 
thousands of abusers from around the US and around the world have lived at a facility in Montgomery County (St. Luke Institute) while being evaluated/treated with no notice to anyone. The abusers live protected, not on any registries, no notification of law enforcement or the community, 
with no legal restrictions on their contact with Maryland children.

 
The problem is not just with religious organizations, though that is what I
am most familiar with from our story. Abuse of minors within religious 
settings is the minority statistically; far more children are harmed by family 
members, acquaintances, teachers, sport coaches, even strangers. 
SB0134 is not targeted at churches - rather it is a global child safety bill, 
aimed to protect Maryland children from hidden predators in all settings.

I most often hear objections to removing SOL age caps based on the idea 
that those who were harmed should come forward promptly to report the 
crime. This makes sense to those of us not harmed. Those who were 
harmed do not want to speak of it; they are embarrassed, ashamed, blame 
themselves and think others will blame them if they speak. Many were 
threatened to be silent, as our Keough survivors were. They fear retribution 
by the one who harmed them, and do not want their parents or families to 
know. A 2014 German study showed that one third of those sexually 
assaulted as children will never speak of it. One third do speak around the 
time of injury - but are often told to keep it secret or are not believed. The 
final third do speak later in their adult lives, with the average age of 
disclosure at 52 years old. People are ready to speak as older adults, 
some waiting until their parents have died - but the criminal judicial system 
will not press charges, and Maryland abuse survivors are age barred from 
using the civil judiciary system. The hidden predators remain in communities - passing screening to work with children. Maryland’s SOL 
time restrictions protect sexual abusers, allowing them to do more harm.

 
The Maryland Constitution’s Declaration of Rights, Article 19, promises 
that “That every man, for any injury done to him in his person or property, 
ought to have remedy by the course of the Law of the Land, and ought to 
have justice and right, freely without sale, fully without any denial, and
speedily without delay, according to the Law of the Land“. I believe
statute of limitation laws deny those sexually abused as children
from having that promised remedy for the injury. They are promised
remedy “fully without any denial” - yet now in Maryland, purely because
of their age, they are denied access to the civil court system.

 SB0134, the Hidden Predator Act, addresses these issues: 
1) Removes the term “statute of repose” that was inserted quietly into the 
2017 law without required explanation or discussion. This is a 
construction based term that capped the time limit for civil lawsuits for 
construction defects at 20 years. They added 20 years to age of 
majority 18 to arrive at current cap of age 38. Building a house is 
entirely different than raping a child. This term has to be removed to 
make other SOL age cap revisions. 
2) Abolishes SOL time caps going forward for sexual abuse of minors; 
that means those who are 38 or younger no longer will have age caps 
to file civil suits. Those 39 and older are still time barred. 
3) Opens a defined two year window of time during which those older 
than 38 with allegations of sexual abuse in Maryland as a minor can file 
civil lawsuits. This will allow them to obtain documents that may help 
prove their case which they now are barred from seeing. Sixteen states 
and DC have passed look back windows or revival laws. 
4) A severability amendment was added to the bill in 2020. If a portion is 
ruled illegal, the remainder of the bill can still become law. 

I respectfully urge the Committee to issue a favorable report on SB0134 
without any other amendments. Let lessons from our painful legacy allow 
other Maryland children to be better protected from sexual predators.

 
-Abbie Fitzgerald Schaub, resident of Maryland District 13.

Montgomery County State Senator Will Smith Says Video Testimony Prevents Full Hearings. Why? .@Willcsmithjr #SB134 #HiddenPredatorAct @jwaldstreicher @SenatorSusanLee

At a February 2, 2021 public hearing on Senate Bill 134, The Hidden Predator Act, Montgomery County State Senator Will Smith limited the number of members of the public who could speak in support of this bill.  Senator Smith said this format limited public testimony.  Listen to his words in the clip below.

How does a video platform LIMIT the ability of the public to participate in a public hearing? If anything the video platforms allow more people to participate from various locations instead of everyone having to be in the same room.  

In fact, there were over 17 victims of sexual abuse that wanted to speak to the Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee in support of Senate Bill 134 The Hidden Predator Act.  

But Montgomery County State Senator Will Smith would only allow 4 speakers to support the bill and only one person to speak for victims.  

The Maryland Catholic Conference is opposed to this bill.  Limiting the number of victims of sexual abuse who could speak obviously worked in their favor.

2019: When Maryland gave abuse victims more time to sue, it may have also protected institutions, including the Catholic Church @Willcsmithjr

...Judicial Proceedings Chairman Bobby Zirkin (D-Baltimore County) said he disagrees with Rowe’s analysis, as well as one written for the Maryland Catholic Conference by Kurt J. Fischer, a partner at the prominent Venable law firm.

“I’m moving that bill,” Zirkin said, promising a committee vote.

Zirkin, a lawyer, introduced the amendments in 2017 that included the repose statute. He said “it wasn’t anyone’s intent” to grant permanent immunity.

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...

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?fbclid=IwAR2rRb7M-x3LDIW3CpFn_V0yvPd9zV8ZYtfSoyDRptEkgZbfScJ5QPTiIE8

WMAR: Senator William Smith [Montgomery County] is the chairman for the Judicial proceeding committee. The bill has died or failed in that committee since 2017. We asked the senator for an interview before the session started, left our number with his staff member and never heard back. .@Willcsmithjr

 

Push for civil suit sex abuse reform in Annapolis

ANNAPOLIS, Md. — Several people gathered on Lawyer's Mall to get the attention of law makers to end the statue of limitations for civil trials for lawsuits of sexual abuse...

The current law only allows a person to file a suit up to the age of 38 and they must do it before October of 2023. Robb says that stacks the deck against victims because the trauma may be suppressed for decades.

...Senator William Smith is the chairman for the Judicial proceeding committee. The bill has died or failed in that committee since 2017. We asked the senator for an interview before the session started, left our number with his staff member and never heard back.

"Maskell was a known abuser since the time he was in the seminary"

You may remember Teresa Lancaster. In the documentary The Keepers, Lancaster claimed Father Joseph Maskell abused her and hundreds of others over decades at Archbishop Kehough. Lancaster also has a book coming out recounting her times at Archbishop Kehough called "Safe in Socks"...

...The bill has been stuck in Smith's committee since February 2nd...

https://www.wmar2news.com/news/local-news/push-for-civil-suit-sex-abuse-reform-in-annapolis?fbclid=IwAR085Bqz4foYGTNLrryNf2k_c1Df-vICpwtVXD3GpNNbz3Ee9LxADoVWDbo

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

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 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.

MoCo Delegate Kathleen Dumais references MD Catholic Conference law firm letter to Oppose bill. Then says she is "not defending the Catholic Church."

On March 16, 2019, Montgomery County Delegate and Majority Leader Kathleen Dumais attempted to have the Maryland House amend House Bill 687 - Hidden Predator Act of 2019, to remove the provision that would allow past victims to file civil claims under a two year "look back" window.  

In Delegate Dumais' presentation of her amendment she referenced multiple letters from the Venable LLC law firm.  

The Venable LLC law firm wrote to the Maryland Catholic Conference in January of this year on the same topic as Dumais' amendment.  

Delegate Dumais' amendment failed in the House by a vote of 3-131.  In defense of her amendment, Delegate Dumais stated "...it's not the Catholic Church. I'm not defending the Catholic Church. I could never defend the Catholic Church, what the Catholic Church has been doing for centuries..."

The video below is the audio from March 16, 2019, with clips of Delegate Dumais' statements with regard to the Venable LLC letters and the Catholic Church. 

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

Professor Lynn McLain to MD Legislature: "These bills fall far short of the national standard for criminal penalties for failure to report child abuse." #sexualabuse #failuretoreport @SenMikeMiller

SB 568 RE: FAILURE TO REPORT CHILD ABUSE AND NEGLECT

Testimony in Opposition

Respectfully Submitted by Lynn McLain, Professor and Dean Joseph Curtis Faculty Fellow Emerita, University of Baltimore School of Law, March 22, 2019

HONORABLE CHAIRMAN CLIPPINGER, VICE-CHAIR ATTERBEARY, AND COMMITTEE MEMBERS:

These bills fall far short of the national standard for criminal penalties for failure to report child abuse. None of the 48 states or D.C. has anything coming close to the total lack of remedy these bills offer, especially in sexual abuse cases.

1. Unlike the penalty laws in 48 other states and D.C., both SB 568 (and HB 787, as amended) apply only if the mandatory reporter who failed to report can be proved to have had "actual knowledge of the abuse or neglect."

The courts will look to the "plain meaning" of these words¹ -- which is firsthand, direct knowledge of the facts at issue. In the child abuse and neglect context, this would mean personally witnessing the acts of abuse or neglect as they were being committed, and realizing that it was abuse, as opposed to, for example, "horsing around."

Black's Law Dictionary² defines "actual knowledge" as "Direct and clear knowledge, as distinguished from constructive knowledge (the employer, having witnessed the accident, had actual knowledge of the worker's injury). "³

Black's defines "constructive knowledge," in contrast, as "Knowledge that one using reasonable care or diligence should have, and therefore that is attributed by law to a given person." A mandated Family Law 5-704 reporter is much more likely to have "constructive knowledge "of abuse than "actual knowledge."

Only "constructive knowledge" would result from hearing allegations of abuse or neglect from the child or seeing bruises, vaginal or anal tearing, or other injuries which cause the reporter to suspect abuse. In those situations, the mandated reporter would have a duty to report "suspected abuse" under Family Law 5-704. But that reporter would not have "actual knowledge" of the abuse or neglect, so even an intentional failure to report, as part of an intentional cover-up, could not be charged under these current bills.

These bills would not cover situations such as where persons at the US Olympics Committee or Michigan State University were told of allegations by minor gymnasts that they had been abused by Dr. Larry Nassar, even if they had spoken directly to the gymnasts.⁴

These bills would not even cover anyone in the most extreme example of the Penn State scandal -- the assistant coach who saw Mr. Sandusky in the shower with the young boy said that he was not sure that it was sexual abuse, but he thought it might be. So even he could not have been prosecuted successfully under this Maryland bill, if the jury had reasonable doubt as to whether he really knew it was sexual abuse! Let alone the higher-ups to whom that man reported but who failed to act. They were held criminally liable under Pennsylvania law -- but they couldn't have been charged if these Maryland bills were the governing law.

2. Because these bills do not state otherwise, the statute of limitations under them is one year from the initial failure to report. Most sexual abuse does not come to light until much, much later. Those who intentionally failed to report child sexual abuse and covered it up for over a year would get away with it "scot-free."

These bills create a misdemeanor. Under Courts 5-106(a), the default statute of limitations for all misdemeanors is one year. To give a different statute of limitations, the particular misdemeanor must be either explicitly made "subject to Courts 5-106(b)" or have a separate statute of limitations provided for in a new subsection of Courts 5-106.

3. These bills undermine the current reporting structure established by Family Law 5-704 and 5-705, which have been construed as applying even when the reporter learns of the suspected abuse or neglect when the child has reached adulthood.⁵ Reports to Social Services or law enforcement are still required, so that the State authorities can investigate to determine whether there are other children who may be at risk. ⁶

Instead, these bills choose to leave at risk innumerable other children in an abuser's sphere.

4. Unlike the laws of 35 other states, these bills inexplicably do not cover bishops and other clergy who fail to promptly report suspected abuse or neglect.

For these reasons, I respectfully oppose SB 568 and HB 787 as amended.

Lynn McLain

lmclain@ubalt.edu

410-778-4515

1 Breslin v. Powell, 421 Md. 266, 286-87 (2011) ("In attempting to discern the intent of the Legislature, courts 'look first to the plain language of the statute, giving it its natural and ordinary meaning. ' If the language of thestatute is clear and ambiguous, courts will give effect to the plain meaning of the statute....").

2 10th ed. 2014.

3 In numerous Maryland statutes, too, "actual knowledge" is used to mean direct, firsthand knowledge of the fact at issue, in contrast to lower alternative standards, such as "a reasonable basis for knowledge." Where lesser alternatives are permitted, they are listed with the use of the disjunctive "or." See, e.g., Md. Code, Crim. L. 11-209(a) ("A person may not [do act X]..., if the person knows, or possesses facts under which the person reasonably should know...").

4 See, e.g., Gymnasts Fault Olympic Committee, Wall St. J., A3, col. 1, Feb. 20, 2018.

5 78 Md. Op. Atty. Gen. 189 (Dec. 3, 1993).

6 See L. McLain, vol. 6 MARYLAND EVIDENCE: STATE AND FEDERAL sec. 504:2 at nn. 44-48 (3d ed. 2013).

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