Statute of Limitations


Right now, survivors can file civil claims three years after realizing they were victimized or until their 28th birthday, whichever is later. Legislation proposed last year in the Michigan House would give them until they turn 52, or seven years after discovering they were a victim. That legislation has stalled.

Anyone abused in the Boy Scouts of America could soon be allowed to seek financial damages.  That's if Gov. Ivey signs a new bill into law.

A Midland man pleaded guilty Thursday to three counts of second-degree criminal sexual conduct with three children under 13, admitting he did it for his own sexual gratification between 2010 and 2023. Brandon Saylor, 44, who was a Living Word Church volunteer, is set for sentencing at 2 p.m. April 4 in Midland County Circuit Court. He was originally charged with six counts of criminal sexual conduct (two with relationship) and three counts of accosting children for immoral purposes. Six of the charges were dismissed.

- The suit prompted a major newspaper investigation into Southern Baptist sexual abuse and seven other men to come forward with allegations against Paul Pressler, an influential conservative activist and former Texas judge. - Rollins said weaponized religious language to justify his predations — were so traumatizing that he unconsciously developed a sort of Stockholm syndrome that, coupled with the drug and alcohol addictions he blamed on the trauma, made it impossible to recognize himself as a victim until decades had passed. Thus, Rollins argued, his statute of limitations should have begun when he realized he had been...

- Bills expanding the amount of time victims would have to sue their perpetrators and eliminate the statute of limitations for more criminal sexual conduct offenses were not put up for a vote last week during a marathon House session, even though they were on the agenda. - In the past, the bills have had bipartisan support, as have many of the other bills known as “Nassar bills” born from efforts to address the rights of victims of sexual violence after about 200 women and girls testified in court against former Team USA gymnastics and Michigan State University doctor Larry...

In keeping with nationwide trends, the Kentucky legislature extended the time period in which child sex abuse survivors can bring civil lawsuits and allowed that their lawsuits can be asserted not only against perpetrators, but also against institutions that fail to protect children. Under these new laws, Samantha Killary pursued her lawsuit for childhood sexual abuse against a Louisville police officer and also against Louisville Metro for “employing and empowering” him. The case is now pending before the Kentucky Supreme Court, with arguments about the validity of the new laws. Into this case, the Southern Baptist Convention...

A brief filed earlier this year by lawyers for the Executive Committee, Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, and Lifeway, an SBC publisher, argues that a Kentucky law that changed the statute of limitations for making civil claims over abuse—and allowing survivors to sue third parties such as churches or police—should not be applied retroactively.