A Prince George’s County judge ruled Wednesday a new Maryland law ending time limits on lawsuits filed by survivors of childhood abuse is constitutional, allowing a suit to go forward against the Catholic Archdiocese of Washington involving three men who say they were molested by predatory priests.
The archdiocese said it would immediately appeal Circuit Judge Robin D. Gill Bright’s ruling in the class-action case, the first in the state to test the Child Victims Act enacted last spring.
“The important constitutional principles presented in this case are not unique to the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Washington and are at issue in the cases filed against public entities, private schools, and secular and religious organizations across the state,” the archdiocese said in a statement. “The archdiocese will pursue an immediate appeal of today’s decision.”
The Maryland law went into effect on Oct. 1 and has since prompted a flood of lawsuits targeting churches, schools and youth correctional facilities for abuse the plaintiffs say was perpetrated by adults in those institutions.
Plaintiffs’ attorney Jonathan Schochor said the judge correctly rejected the archdiocese’s argument that a 2017 state law gives the church immunity from lawsuits brought more than 20 years after an accuser turns 18. The three men were ages 9 to 12 at the time of the alleged attacks.
Mr. Schochor said in a telephone interview he believes the appeal will go to an appellate court and then be accepted by the Supreme Court of Maryland for argument there.
Mr. Schochor said the archdiocese’s stated pledge to help victims “regardless of the ultimate outcome of that appeal” didn’t align with their opposition to the lawsuit.
“Their efforts to have the law declared unconstitutional represents a transparent effort to shield their assets and not compensate the survivors of sexual abuse that they created,” he said.
Mr. Schochor said he would “pursue discovery and get more facts and circumstances of this horrendous, grievous sexual abuse that [has] gone on for decades with who knows how many priests.”
The Washington Archdiocese, whose headquarters are in Hyattsville, Maryland, includes five Maryland counties: Prince George’s, Montgomery, Charles, Calvert and St. Mary’s.
Maryland lawmakers passed the Child Victims Act in April, weeks after the state attorney general released a nearly 500-page investigative report detailing the scope of abuse and cover-up within the Baltimore Archdiocese. The report lists more than 150 clergy who were credibly accused of abusing over 600 victims dating back several decades.
That report led to the Baltimore Archdiocese filing for bankruptcy protection on Sept. 29, less than 48 hours before the new law took effect.
• Mark A. Kellner can be reached at mkellner@washingtontimes.com.