Bishops back constitutional challenge to California sex abuse law

Published: 2004-07-15

SAN FRANCISCO (CNS) -- California's Catholic bishops have endorsed a constitutional challenge by the Diocese of Davenport, Iowa, and the Los Angeles Archdiocese to a California law that temporarily suspended the time limit on seeking civil damages in decades-old sexual abuse cases. The bishops said they agree with arguments that the 2002 law, SB 1779, sponsored by Democratic Sen. John Burton of San Francisco, violates the ex post facto, due process and bill of attainder clauses of the U.S. Constitution. Under the law, between Jan. 1 and Dec. 31, 2003, plaintiffs claiming childhood sexual abuse in California were allowed to file civil claims regardless of how long ago the alleged offense occurred, whether a previous claim in the case had already been settled, or whether the claim was previously barred by the statute of limitations. By the close of 2003 nearly 800 previously barred civil actions were filed. Nearly 500 of those were against the Los Angeles Archdiocese and most of the remainder were against other Catholic dioceses in the state. One-third of the cases in Los Angeles involve allegations against priests who are dead and some alleged abuse dates back as far as 70 years.

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