Lawmakers approve bill to limit claims on child sexual abuse lawsuits
Senators, delegates grapple with balance between rights of victims and the need to protect the state from billions in damages
Lawmakers gave final approval Saturday to a bill designed to give survivors of childhood sexual abuse their day in court, while shielding Maryland from what could be billions of dollars in payouts for such claims.
The rapid-fire passage of House Bill 1378 — it got out of the House, through the Senate, back to the House and to the governor’s desk in just two days — followed two weeks of often emotional and sometimes personal debate about the bill.
The bill is a response to the Child Victims Act of 2023, which lifted the time limit during which people could file lawsuits against public or private institutions where they claimed they had been sexually abused as children. That bill was a victory for Del. C.T. Wilson (D-Charles), a child sexual abuse survivor himself who had spent years pushing for the measure.
But Wilson sponsored HB1378 this year after thousands of people lined up to file claims against the state and it became clear that damages could rise into the billions of dollars, potentially bankrupting the state. Many lawmakers who voted for the bill in recent days pointed to the need to protect the state while allowing survivors their day in court.
“On balance, I think this is the right way to go,” said Sen. William C. Smith Jr. (D-Montgomery), chair of the Judicial Proceedings Committee that passed the bill late Saturday morning. The full Senate passed it 36-7 just hours later.
Opponents were divided between those who said the Child Victims Act should never have been approved in the first place and those who said the bill to fix it was either unconstitutional or wrongly hurt victims — or both.
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“This is the most knowingly unconstitutional piece of legislation this legislative body has ever passed,” said Corey Stern, an attorney representing child sexual abuse survivors, in a text after Saturday’s full Senate vote. “The members who voted for it should be ashamed of themselves. The leadership that insisted they do should be voted out of office.”
The Child Victims Act capped awards against public institutions, like the state, to $890,000 per incident for an abused child. It set the cap for private institutions, like the Catholic Church or scouting organizations, at $1.5 million.
HB1378 would lower the cap for public institutions to $400,000 and for private institutions to $700,000 for cases filed June 1 or later, when the new law takes effect. Claims before that would be subject to the original rules. The bill would also cap fees for attorneys at 20% for cases that settle out of court and 25% for cases that result from a court judgment.
The bill also narrows the scope of the term “incident,” so that all crimes by one abuser against one victim would count as one incident, rather than one incident for every separate assault.
Del. Luke Clippinger (D-Baltimore City), who spoke on behalf of Wilson during a Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee hearing on the bill Friday, said about 1,500 lawsuits have been filed since the Child Victims Act was passed, and another 4,000 cases are waiting to go forward.
Sen. Jack Bailey (R-Calvert and St. Mary’s) was one of seven Senate Republicans to vote against the bill Saturday. He also voted against the Child Victims Act two years ago.
“I did not feel it was appropriate that if the General Assembly allowed these current victims to receive compensation based on a decision we made, that now all of a sudden, we should change that,” Bailey said after Saturday’s vote.
Much of the Senate debate was between Smith and Minority Whip Justin Ready (R-Frederick and Carroll). Ready said it “was a mistake” for the legislature to pass the 2023 measure that lifted previous statutory time limits and allowed survivors to sue their abusers or organizations that harbored them “at any time.”
“Hindsight is always 20-20,” Smith said.
“But there was foresight. I think people didn’t want to say ‘no’ to the pressures. Not do something, but slow down,” Ready said.
After about 25 minutes of debate, the Senate give the bill preliminary approval before suspending the rules so that the bill could go to third reading, or given final approval, on the same day.
Before the final vote, Sen. Chris West (R-Baltimore County) said part of the legislation could face an immediate court challenge, especially over the limited definition of incident for victims. West summarized a recent Maryland Supreme Court decision when an incarcerated person in prison was assaulted twice “that occurred within minutes of each other.”
“The whole question that this bill sets up is whether our intent to now limit the cause of action to a single occurrence per claimant, whether that is constitutional,” said West, who voted for the bill. “This is going to be a lawsuit that will surely be filed almost immediately, and it will surely go right up to the Maryland Supreme Court.”
Because the Senate made a technical amendment to the bill, it had to go back the House for review. The House agreed to concur in the Senate amendment on a 92-40 vote, sending the bill to the governor.
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