SACRAMENTO – Legislation by Sen. Jim Beall to overhaul the statute of limitations so adult survivors of child molestation can seek justice in civil courts against their abusers was passed Monday by the Senate Judiciary Committee.
“Senate Bill 131 changes California’s antiquated statute of limitations on civil claims brought forward for childhood sexual abuse,’’ said Beall, D-San Jose. “The bill gives victims more time to recognize the psychological trauma that is linked to their childhood abuse and take action to gain a measure of justice.’’
Victim rights advocate Kim Goldman told the Judiciary Committee that addictions and suicides have been linked to adults who suffered sexual abuse as children.
“The resulting harms are latent injuries that do not manifest themselves until later in life,’’ said Goldman, who argued for allowing victims more time to sue their abusers.
She also said the bill does not make it easier for victims to win their court cases because the burden of proof still rests on them to convince a judge or jury that they were harmed.
Existing law prevents victims of child sex abuse who are 26 years or older from suing their abusers. Research shows the psychological trauma from child abuse can surface well beyond the 26-year-old ceiling.
Beall’s bill calls for extending the statute of limitation to age 43 for a victim to sue the person who abused them. To sue the abuser’s employer, victims would have to file before they turn 31 years old, under the bill. In either category, victims whose ages are higher than the statute of limitations will be permitted a one-year window to seek civil damages after the bill becomes law.
SB 131 also gives victims a causal connection window of five years as opposed to the existing three-year period to file a lawsuit after the date of discovery by a mental health professional that their psychological trauma is indeed linked to their childhood sexual abuse.
Beall’s legislation grants victims who were previously barred by law from filing civil actions a one-year window to seek justice against their perpetrators. If approved by the Legislature and signed into law by the governor, SB 131 would go into effect on Jan. 1.
The bill now goes to the Senate Appropriations Committee.
http://sol-reform.com/News/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/Hamilton-Logo.jpg00SOL Reformhttp://sol-reform.com/News/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/Hamilton-Logo.jpgSOL Reform2013-05-11 15:43:442013-05-11 15:43:44CA Bill to Extend Statute of Limitations to Sue Child Molesters Clears Committee
Create blog posts with video easily by using video post format. All you need to do is simply select Video format in post format section and paste a link to the video you want to embed. You can embed videos from You Tube, Vimeo, and you might as well use a self-hosted video.
SOL Reformhttp://sol-reform.com/News/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/Hamilton-Logo.jpgSOL Reform2013-05-10 15:10:442013-05-10 15:10:44Video post format
Letter: Pass Child Victims Act to protect innocent lives
After reading Thomas B. Stebbins‘ letter (“Focus effort on preventing abuse,” April 9), I must ask: Why would the public agree to support any organization that would cover up crimes or protect sexual predators? I can’t think of a justifiable reason why a one-year civil window wouldn’t serve in the public’s best interest by exposing undetected sexual predators that may have abused numerous children over the years.
New York’s children are its most precious asset. Protecting this asset must be a legislative priority. Will eliminating the statutes for child sexual abuse cause catastrophic financial harm to some institutions or organizations because of a torrent of lawsuits? Civil litigation of these cases is a necessary evil.
Without this remedy, much of the financial burden from the devastation of child sexual abuse falls upon the taxpayers, costing billions in services that are needed by these victims. These costs should be shouldered by those responsible for the damaging effects they left their victims with.
Sexual predators have been hiding behind these archaic statutes for too long. Without affording victims of previous abuse the ability to expose their perpetrator, we do nothing to provide real-time protection to our children right now. Many of these predators may still be operating below the radar of law enforcement and can continue to abuse without detection. When California provided a window for previous victims, 300 predators were exposed that had never previously been identified.
Pass the Child Victims Act into law. Make New York safer for children, not for a few organizations or institutions lobbying against this long-overdue legislation.
http://sol-reform.com/News/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/Hamilton-Logo.jpg00SOL Reformhttp://sol-reform.com/News/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/Hamilton-Logo.jpgSOL Reform2013-05-08 20:35:362013-05-08 20:35:36Great letter supporting NY CVA!
Minnesota Senate passes bill removing civil statute of limitation on child sex abuse lawsuits
A bill that would make it easier for Minnesotans who were sexually abused as children to bring civil lawsuits against their abuser or the institution that enabled that abuse could soon become law.
It passed the Minnesota Senate unanimously on Wednesday, May 8. The House approved a similar measure earlier this month.
The bill eliminates the civil statute of limitations in most cases for victims of child sexual abuse. Under current state law, a child sex-abuse victim has up to age 24 to file a lawsuit after he or she turns 18, if not before.
The proposed legislation would retain the six-year limit to file a civil action for victims who were sexually abused at the age of 18 or older. But it would wipe out any limits for someone who was similarly abused before he or she turned 18.
If signed into the law, Minnesota would become the fifth state in recent years to wipe out limitations on the civil end.
The issue: Many victims of child sexual abuse do not come forward to reveal what happened for years after the crimes. By then civil and criminal statutes of limitations have often expired and the perpetrator cannot be punished.
Proposed bill: SB131, introduced by Sen. Jim Beall, D-San Jose, proposes that civil actions in child sexual abuse cases could be filed up to the plaintiff’s 42nd birthday or within five years of the date the plaintiff reasonably discovers that his or her psychological trauma is linked to sexual abuse.
Current law: Civil actions must be filed by the plaintiff’s 26th birthday or within three years of linking psychological trauma to sexual abuse. Forty-one states have separate statutes of limitations for child sexual abuse lawsuits. Florida, Alaska, Delaware and Maine have eliminated the statute of limitations on civil sexual abuse cases.
Charmaine Carnes still remembers the sick feeling she had the first time her gymnastics coach sexually molested her.
“I was 8 or 9 years old the first time I felt dread. My coach, Doug Boger, was reaching into my leotard, then under it …” Carnes told the state Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday.
“Then I was silent,” Carnes said.
More than three decades later, Carnes and two other former gymnasts who said they were sexually abused by Boger spoke about the abuse that has haunted them, altering the course of their lives, and about how current law prevents victims from pursuing civil actions against the abusers.
Carnes, Ann Malver and Monica Lenches testified in Sacramento in support of a bill that would extend the statute of limitations in child sexual abuse civil cases. The bill cleared the committee later Tuesday.
“I’m here to put a face and a name on this tragedy,” Carnes told the committee.
SB131, introduced by Sen. Jim Beall, D-San Jose, calls for extending the statute of limitations to age 43 for a victim to sue the person who abused them. To sue the abuser’s employer, victims would have to file before they turn 31 years old. In either category, victims whose ages are higher than the statute of limitations will be permitted a one-year window to sue after the bill becomes law.
SB131 also would give victims a causal connection window of five years – compared to the existing three-year period – to file a lawsuit after the date of a finding by a mental health professional that their psychological trauma is linked to their childhood sexual abuse.
Under current state law, civil actions must be filed by the plaintiff’s 26th birthday or within three years of linking psychological trauma to sexual abuse. Forty-one states currently have separate statutes of limitations for child sexual abuse lawsuits. Florida, Alaska, Delaware, and Maine have eliminated the statute of limitations on civil sexual abuse cases.
“We don’t have to be a backward state on this issue and right now we are,” Beall said in an interview with the Register. “This would be a landmark bill that would set the right tone for our society and declare that this is not acceptable in this state; we’re not going to remain silent on this issue. This will tell (abusers) it’s going to cost you if you decide to molest children. We’ve got to have a strong civil suit law to create another deterrent to this.”
Although the bill cleared a major hurdle by passing out of the Judiciary Committee by a 5-1 vote on Tuesday, it will continue to receive opposition from groups connected with the Roman Catholic Church, nonprofits, private schools and the insurance industry.
The bill, said John Norwood, a lobbyist for the California Council of Non-Profit Organizations, would create “an unmanageable statute of limitations from a liability standpoint.”
Beall’s introduction of SB131 follows a 2011 Orange County Register investigation in which 10 former gymnasts Flairs Gymnastics in Pasadena said they were sexually and physically abused by Boger in the 1970s and ’80s. Although Boger was barred for life from coaching by USA Gymnastics, he continued to train young gymnasts at a Colorado Springs gym near the U.S. Olympic Committee’s headquarters. Boger was fired two days after the Register’s investigation was published.
Boger has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing.
Beall and SB131 supporters argue that the accounts of child sexual abuse victims such as the former gymnastics students demonstrate the necessity of extending the statute of limitations. Nearly half of all victims of child sexual abuse do not tell anyone of the abuse for at least five years, according to multiple studies. In the cases of many victims, the memory of the abuse is suppressed for years, even decades.
Boger’s abuse escalated to rape when Carnes was 11 or 12, she told the committee. “I still struggle with the memory of the stench of his body odor and the taste of cigarettes and beer in my mouth,” Carnes said.
After the abuse stopped, Carnes life slipped into a long downward spiral of abusive relationships, substance abuse, depression, self-esteem issues and burying herself in work, Carnes said in an interview with the Register last week.
“Once the abuse starts it psychologically sends your life spinning,” she said. “I’ve spent years spinning in the middle of this trauma. I’m still spinning to this day.”
But by the time Carnes, like her Flairs teammates, was able to link her psychological trauma to the sexual abuse through therapy, it was too late to pursue civil action against Boger under the current law.
Victims such as Carnes and her teammates, victims’ rights advocate Kim Goldman told the committee, have been “denied justice by a system that lets abusers run out the clock.”
“It’s critically important for these older cases to have a voice,” said Goldman, whose family shared in a $33 million civil judgment against O.J. Simpson. “The current statute of limitations protects no one but the abusers and the people who protect them.”
BY SCOTT M. REID / ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER Contact the writer:sreid@ocregister.com
http://sol-reform.com/News/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/Hamilton-Logo.jpg00SOL Reformhttp://sol-reform.com/News/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/Hamilton-Logo.jpgSOL Reform2013-05-08 18:51:002013-05-08 18:51:00Great oped in favor of CA sol reform
SB 1399 (Illinois) Just passed out of committee unanimously!
http://sol-reform.com/News/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/Hamilton-Logo.jpg00SOL Reformhttp://sol-reform.com/News/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/Hamilton-Logo.jpgSOL Reform2013-05-08 16:40:332013-05-08 16:40:33SB 1399 (Illinois) Just passed out of committee unanimously!
CA Bill to Extend Statute of Limitations to Sue Child Molesters Clears Committee
/in California /by SOL ReformSACRAMENTO – Legislation by Sen. Jim Beall to overhaul the statute of limitations so adult survivors of child molestation can seek justice in civil courts against their abusers was passed Monday by the Senate Judiciary Committee.
“Senate Bill 131 changes California’s antiquated statute of limitations on civil claims brought forward for childhood sexual abuse,’’ said Beall, D-San Jose. “The bill gives victims more time to recognize the psychological trauma that is linked to their childhood abuse and take action to gain a measure of justice.’’
Victim rights advocate Kim Goldman told the Judiciary Committee that addictions and suicides have been linked to adults who suffered sexual abuse as children.
“The resulting harms are latent injuries that do not manifest themselves until later in life,’’ said Goldman, who argued for allowing victims more time to sue their abusers.
She also said the bill does not make it easier for victims to win their court cases because the burden of proof still rests on them to convince a judge or jury that they were harmed.
Existing law prevents victims of child sex abuse who are 26 years or older from suing their abusers. Research shows the psychological trauma from child abuse can surface well beyond the 26-year-old ceiling.
Beall’s bill calls for extending the statute of limitation to age 43 for a victim to sue the person who abused them. To sue the abuser’s employer, victims would have to file before they turn 31 years old, under the bill. In either category, victims whose ages are higher than the statute of limitations will be permitted a one-year window to seek civil damages after the bill becomes law.
SB 131 also gives victims a causal connection window of five years as opposed to the existing three-year period to file a lawsuit after the date of discovery by a mental health professional that their psychological trauma is indeed linked to their childhood sexual abuse.
Beall’s legislation grants victims who were previously barred by law from filing civil actions a one-year window to seek justice against their perpetrators. If approved by the Legislature and signed into law by the governor, SB 131 would go into effect on Jan. 1.
The bill now goes to the Senate Appropriations Committee.
View source: http://sd15.senate.ca.gov/news/2013-05-07-bill-extend-statute-limitations-sue-child-molesters-clears-committee
Video post format
/in Uncategorized /by SOL ReformCreate blog posts with video easily by using video post format. All you need to do is simply select Video format in post format section and paste a link to the video you want to embed. You can embed videos from You Tube, Vimeo, and you might as well use a self-hosted video.
Great letter supporting NY CVA!
/in New York /by SOL ReformLetter: Pass Child Victims Act to protect innocent lives
After reading Thomas B. Stebbins‘ letter (“Focus effort on preventing abuse,” April 9), I must ask: Why would the public agree to support any organization that would cover up crimes or protect sexual predators? I can’t think of a justifiable reason why a one-year civil window wouldn’t serve in the public’s best interest by exposing undetected sexual predators that may have abused numerous children over the years.
New York’s children are its most precious asset. Protecting this asset must be a legislative priority. Will eliminating the statutes for child sexual abuse cause catastrophic financial harm to some institutions or organizations because of a torrent of lawsuits? Civil litigation of these cases is a necessary evil.
Without this remedy, much of the financial burden from the devastation of child sexual abuse falls upon the taxpayers, costing billions in services that are needed by these victims. These costs should be shouldered by those responsible for the damaging effects they left their victims with.
Sexual predators have been hiding behind these archaic statutes for too long. Without affording victims of previous abuse the ability to expose their perpetrator, we do nothing to provide real-time protection to our children right now. Many of these predators may still be operating below the radar of law enforcement and can continue to abuse without detection. When California provided a window for previous victims, 300 predators were exposed that had never previously been identified.
Pass the Child Victims Act into law. Make New York safer for children, not for a few organizations or institutions lobbying against this long-overdue legislation.
Mark Lyman
Stillwater
Read more: http://www.timesunion.com/opinion/article/Letter-Pass-Child-Victims-Act-to-protect-4492344.php#ixzz2SjeoIClI
View Source: http://www.timesunion.com/opinion/article/Letter-Pass-Child-Victims-Act-to-protect-4492344.php
BREAKING NEWS: MN Window passes Senate!!
/in Minnesota /by SOL ReformMinnesota Senate passes bill removing civil statute of limitation on child sex abuse lawsuits
A bill that would make it easier for Minnesotans who were sexually abused as children to bring civil lawsuits against their abuser or the institution that enabled that abuse could soon become law.
It passed the Minnesota Senate unanimously on Wednesday, May 8. The House approved a similar measure earlier this month.
The bill eliminates the civil statute of limitations in most cases for victims of child sexual abuse. Under current state law, a child sex-abuse victim has up to age 24 to file a lawsuit after he or she turns 18, if not before.
The proposed legislation would retain the six-year limit to file a civil action for victims who were sexually abused at the age of 18 or older. But it would wipe out any limits for someone who was similarly abused before he or she turned 18.
If signed into the law, Minnesota would become the fifth state in recent years to wipe out limitations on the civil end.
Megan Boldt can be reached at 651-228-5495. Follow her at twitter.com/meganboldt.
View Original Article: http://www.twincities.com/crime/ci_23200129/minnesota-senate-passes-bill-removing-civil-statute-limitation
Great oped in favor of CA sol reform
/in California /by SOL ReformCharmaine Carnes still remembers the sick feeling she had the first time her gymnastics coach sexually molested her.
“I was 8 or 9 years old the first time I felt dread. My coach, Doug Boger, was reaching into my leotard, then under it …” Carnes told the state Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday.
“Then I was silent,” Carnes said.
More than three decades later, Carnes and two other former gymnasts who said they were sexually abused by Boger spoke about the abuse that has haunted them, altering the course of their lives, and about how current law prevents victims from pursuing civil actions against the abusers.
Carnes, Ann Malver and Monica Lenches testified in Sacramento in support of a bill that would extend the statute of limitations in child sexual abuse civil cases. The bill cleared the committee later Tuesday.
“I’m here to put a face and a name on this tragedy,” Carnes told the committee.
SB131, introduced by Sen. Jim Beall, D-San Jose, calls for extending the statute of limitations to age 43 for a victim to sue the person who abused them. To sue the abuser’s employer, victims would have to file before they turn 31 years old. In either category, victims whose ages are higher than the statute of limitations will be permitted a one-year window to sue after the bill becomes law.
SB131 also would give victims a causal connection window of five years – compared to the existing three-year period – to file a lawsuit after the date of a finding by a mental health professional that their psychological trauma is linked to their childhood sexual abuse.
Under current state law, civil actions must be filed by the plaintiff’s 26th birthday or within three years of linking psychological trauma to sexual abuse. Forty-one states currently have separate statutes of limitations for child sexual abuse lawsuits. Florida, Alaska, Delaware, and Maine have eliminated the statute of limitations on civil sexual abuse cases.
“We don’t have to be a backward state on this issue and right now we are,” Beall said in an interview with the Register. “This would be a landmark bill that would set the right tone for our society and declare that this is not acceptable in this state; we’re not going to remain silent on this issue. This will tell (abusers) it’s going to cost you if you decide to molest children. We’ve got to have a strong civil suit law to create another deterrent to this.”
Although the bill cleared a major hurdle by passing out of the Judiciary Committee by a 5-1 vote on Tuesday, it will continue to receive opposition from groups connected with the Roman Catholic Church, nonprofits, private schools and the insurance industry.
The bill, said John Norwood, a lobbyist for the California Council of Non-Profit Organizations, would create “an unmanageable statute of limitations from a liability standpoint.”
Beall’s introduction of SB131 follows a 2011 Orange County Register investigation in which 10 former gymnasts Flairs Gymnastics in Pasadena said they were sexually and physically abused by Boger in the 1970s and ’80s. Although Boger was barred for life from coaching by USA Gymnastics, he continued to train young gymnasts at a Colorado Springs gym near the U.S. Olympic Committee’s headquarters. Boger was fired two days after the Register’s investigation was published.
Boger has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing.
Beall and SB131 supporters argue that the accounts of child sexual abuse victims such as the former gymnastics students demonstrate the necessity of extending the statute of limitations. Nearly half of all victims of child sexual abuse do not tell anyone of the abuse for at least five years, according to multiple studies. In the cases of many victims, the memory of the abuse is suppressed for years, even decades.
Boger’s abuse escalated to rape when Carnes was 11 or 12, she told the committee. “I still struggle with the memory of the stench of his body odor and the taste of cigarettes and beer in my mouth,” Carnes said.
After the abuse stopped, Carnes life slipped into a long downward spiral of abusive relationships, substance abuse, depression, self-esteem issues and burying herself in work, Carnes said in an interview with the Register last week.
“Once the abuse starts it psychologically sends your life spinning,” she said. “I’ve spent years spinning in the middle of this trauma. I’m still spinning to this day.”
But by the time Carnes, like her Flairs teammates, was able to link her psychological trauma to the sexual abuse through therapy, it was too late to pursue civil action against Boger under the current law.
Victims such as Carnes and her teammates, victims’ rights advocate Kim Goldman told the committee, have been “denied justice by a system that lets abusers run out the clock.”
“It’s critically important for these older cases to have a voice,” said Goldman, whose family shared in a $33 million civil judgment against O.J. Simpson. “The current statute of limitations protects no one but the abusers and the people who protect them.”
BY SCOTT M. REID / ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER Contact the writer:sreid@ocregister.com
SB 1399 (Illinois) Just passed out of committee unanimously!
/in Uncategorized /by SOL ReformGo Illinois!
SB 1399 (Illinois) Just passed out of committee unanimously!