Abuse claims against Catholic Church limited by 1986 California ballot measure

The ruling is a small victory for the religious entities, which are facing more than 1,000 lawsuits over claims of childhood sexual abuse.(CN) — A California court of appeal ruled Monday that liability in childhood sexual abuse cases revived by a 2019 law is still subject to a 1986 ballot measure that limited noneconomic damages.“The Legislature undoubtedly intended to give childhood sexual abuse survivors a chance to pursue claims they may have understandably been reluctant to pursue, or could not pursue, when they were younger,” Baker wrote. “But we see no persuasive evidence of a legislative intent to require the revived claims to proceed as if the law were trapped in 1986 amber,” wrote Associate Justice Lamar Baker in the opinion.The court’s opinion arises out of a consolidated action based in Alameda County Superior Court, in which more than 1,000 plaintiffs are suing a handful of Roman Catholic dioceses in northern and central California, as well as Catholic parishes, schools and the Boy Scouts of America over sexual abuse inflicted on children.Although those claims once had a three-year statute of limitations, the 2019 law effectively reset the statute of limitations clock to 2020, and expanded the window to five years after discovering psychological injury.The law paved the way for a number of lawsuits to filed over old claims, including those in the consolidated action against the Catholic Church.Plaintiffs in that case had argued that their claims ought not be limited by Proposition 51, the 1986 tort reform measure that limits a defendant’s liability for noneconomic damages like pain and suffering to a direct percentage of their fault.The plaintiffs who said that their abuse happened prior to 1986 argued that the proposition shouldn’t apply to them as the ballot measure only applied to cases filed after it was approved by voters 40 years ago.But an Alameda County Superior Court Judge reasoned that since the claims had been revived in 2020, they had accrued, at least for the purposes of the proposition, in 2020.Initially, the state court of appeals denied the plaintiffs’ petition to review the ruling, but the California Supreme Court ordered the appellate court to explain its reasoning. On Monday, it did so.Baker wrote in the opinion the 2019 law “says nothing about displacing Proposition 51’s elimination of joint and several liability for non-economic damages, and the Legislature is appropriately understood to have revived petitioners’ claims subject to the settled Proposition 51 legal backdrop.”The ruling was also signed by Associate Justices Carl Moor and Dorothy Kim.The first bellwether trial in the coordinated action concluded in April, with the jury awarding $16 million in damages, to be paid by the Diocese of Oakland to an unnamed 61-year-old man who said he was repeatedly molested by a priest when he was a 10-year-old altar boy. The next bellwether trial, a lawsuit against the Santa Rosa Diocese, was transferred to Sonoma County Superior Court in August.Many of the diocese, including San Francisco and Oakland, have declared bankruptcy, putting many of the cases on hold.Categories / Appeals, ReligionSubscribe to our free newslettersOur weekly newsletter Closing Arguments offers the latest about ongoing trials, major litigation and rulings in courthouses around the U.S. and the world, while the monthly Under the Lights dishes the legal dirt from Hollywood, sports, Big Tech and the arts.Additional Reads