The state of California passed legislation allowing a three-year exemption to the statute of limitations on sexual abuse lawsuits. The window began Jan. 1, 2020, and ended Jan. 2, 2023.
A similar legal window was opened in 2003, but it did not allow for retrospective lawsuits against hospitals and schools where abuse was alleged.
All of the claims in question, the friars said, “occurred at least 27 years ago,” with some dating back to the 1940s. “Almost all of” them were filed in California, and “most of the friars named in the claims” are deceased.
“Of the six living friars, all have been long-removed permanently from all public ministry and ministerial environments and are living under strict third-party supervision,” the announcement said.
The filing is meant to ensure “just financial compensation” for abuse victims, Father David Gaa, OFM, said in the release.
“The care of abuse survivors is our foremost concern and has always been at the core of our response,” Gaa said. “As a result of the state’s most recent temporary suspension of the statute of limitations, we were overwhelmed by the number of cases filed, both in terms of the human cost and in our ability to fairly compensate all abuse survivors.”
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