New federal law gives child sex abuse survivors more time to sue predators, enablers

Survivors of some of the most egregious sex crimes have new access to compensation from their abusers, thanks in part to a congresswoman from Raleigh.

President Joe Biden on Friday signed a law that removed the federal statute of limitations on civil lawsuits relating to allegations of child sex trafficking, child pornography and other federal crimes harming children.

Previously, most survivors had only until age 28 to sue in federal court, even though many people don’t disclose their abuse until they are much older, 52 on average, researchers have found.

Advocates publicizing the effects of childhood trauma have spurred a wave of legislation extending or eliminating statutes of limitation in states across the country, including North Carolina, which passed the SAFE Child Act in 2019.

That legislation, a portion of which faces a major challenge in the state Supreme Court, pushed the deadline for filing a claim in North Carolina civil courts to age 28 in most cases. Before December 2019, survivors typically had only until age 21.

U.S. Rep. Deborah Ross, a Raleigh Democrat, pushed for the federal change in a bill she sponsored.

“All survivors deserve to see their day in court no matter how long it takes them to process the trauma they’ve suffered,” she said in a speech last week on the House floor.

Biden signed legislation identical to the House bill that was introduced in the U.S. Senate by Sens. Dick Durbin, Democrat of Illinois, and Marsha Blackburn, a Tennessee Republican.

In each chamber, lawmakers from both parties backed the legislation.

Limits to reform

Advocates have hailed the law as “a victory for survivors,” but noted that it leaves plenty of people out.

Since the law is not retroactive, people who were affected by the old statute of limitations are still out of luck, said Jessica Schidlow, a staff attorney at CHILD USA, a think tank that studies and promotes legal reform related to child sex abuse.

“This will absolutely help victims moving forward,” she said. “But we still have all of these victims who’ve suffered past abuse who still won’t be able to find relief, either in federal court or in state court.”

North Carolina lawmakers temporarily suspended any statute of limitations for child sex abuse cases with their 2019 legislation, but that provision is currently in limbo.

State Supreme Court justices have agreed to hear arguments this fall about whether state lawmakers violated the state constitution when they allowed, for a two-year period, any victim of childhood sex abuse to file a lawsuit. A three-judge panel ruled 2-1 in December that was unconstitutional.

If justices rule the same way, dozens of cases could be thrown out, including one where some 60 alumni accuse North Carolina School of Arts of failing to protect them from sexual abuse while they were students.

Advocates and attorneys who handle child sex abuse cases say they hope the federal legislation will keep pressure on states to align their laws with the latest science and open new avenues to justice.

“You’d hope that might inspire our General Assembly to reconsider only extending it to age 28, realizing that the nature of these violations against children are such that it just almost impossible to bring a case even in your late 20s,” said Bobby Jenkins, a Raleigh attorney with Lanier Law Group.

The firm represents several clients who made use of North Carolina’s so-called lookback window, which closed at the end of last year.

About half of states give survivors longer to decide whether to sue than North Carolina does, according to data compiled by CHILD USA. At least nine states, like the federal government, have done away with age cutoffs.

This story was originally published September 22, 2022 at 6:00 AM.