The Maryland Supreme Court, in a narrow 4-3 ruling, upheld a 2023 state law that lifted the statute of limitations on civll suits in child sexual abuse cases. (File photo by Bennett Leckrone/Maryland Matters)
A 2023 state law that lifted a 20-year statute of limitations on lawsuits against public and private entities involved in incidents of sexual abuse, essentially allowing victims to file suit at any time, is constitutional.
The Supreme Court of Maryland, in a narrow 4-3 decision, ruled that the legislature was within its power when it passed the Child Victims Act of 2023. The law, signed by Gov. Wes Moore (D) in 2023 opened the door to claims against private entities — most notably the Archdiocese of Baltimore — and state government agencies.
Defendants in three cases — the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Washington, The Key School and the Board of Education of Harford County — argued the 2023 law ran afoul of a law passed six years earlier. That 2017 law, they argued, established a time restriction for filing lawsuits that in effect created a statute of limitations.
The state’s highest court was asked to decide if the 2023 law illegally stripped a vested right when it eliminated the statute of limitations for lawsuits under the act.
“Our answer is no,” Chief Justice Matthew Fader wrote in the opinion for the majority.
“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,” the majority opinion stated. “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.”
Justice Jonathan Biran, in his dissent, wrote that the legislature did overstep.
“Respecting the General Assembly’s authority means applying the statute before us as written. The text of the 2017 Act is unambiguous,” Biran wrote in his dissent. “In that legislation, the General Assembly created a statute of repose with respect to claims against non-perpetrator defendants.
“Thus, any claims against non-perpetrator defendants that were untimely on the effective date of the 2017 Act, or that became untimely before the effective date of the 2023 Act, could not be revived without violating the vested rights of the affected defendants,” he wrote.
Attorney General Anthony Brown welcomed the high court’s ruling.
“Today’s decision by the Supreme Court of Maryland confirms that the passage of time will not prevent survivors from seeking justice for sexual abuse they suffered as children. I am proud of the role our office played in defending this landmark statute,” he said in a prepared statement.
The ruling comes as Maryland is engaged in negotiations to possibly settle 3,500 cases that could be filed as a result of the 2023 law. Some of the claims date back to incidents that are alleged to have occurred in the 1960s.
A legislative analyst warned lawmakers last month of a looming “enormous liability.”
The 2023 law lifted limitations on filing lawsuits against private entities, such as the Archdiocese of Baltimore, as well as state and local governments. It also capped liability for public entities at $890,000 per occurrence, and raised the liability limit in claims against private institutions for non-economic damages, such as pain and suffering, to $1.5 million. It also eliminated caps for economic damages for costs of services such as therapy or medical treatment.
The initial tranche of cases said to be part of the negotiation — Brown’s office does not comment on ongoing litigation and negotiations — could potentially cost $3.1 billion or more.
A payout of that size would pose budget challenges in a normal year. But this year, Gov. Wes Moore (D) and the legislature are struggling to tame a projected $3 billion budget deficit in fiscal 2026. The five-year outlook sees that gap double in size by fiscal 2030.
Moore last month said his proposal addresses the gap for fiscal 2026.
There is no contingency in his spending plan for additional billions in payouts to victims who were abused as children while in state custody.