Sex Abuse Case Dismissed On Statute Of Limitations Grounds

An Alaska judge dismissed a clergy sex abuse case recently, saying the plaintiff waited too long to file it. I’ve had a fair amount of involvement in sex abuse cases, both in providing coverage advice to insurers and in the defense of such claims, and these cases are very seldomly dismissed on statute of limitations grounds. The statute of limitations on such claims in many states has a “discovery” component to it, meaning the statute only begins to run when the victim reasonably should have discovered the connection between the crime and the harm to the victim. The Alaska case goes against the trend to interpret the statute of limitations so broadly as to effectively do away with it. More on the Alaska case and other cases here.