Maryland Child Victims Act Cases
What’s at stake: Whether hundreds of victims of childhood sexual abuse can file lawsuits under the Maryland Child Victims Act.
Summary: From 1973 to 1977, while in high school at the Key School in Annapolis, Maryland, Valerie Bunker was sexually abused by two different teachers. But like many victims of childhood sexual abuse, she did not immediately file suit, and the deadline passed. Valerie’s story is all too common: due to trauma, manipulation by abusers, cover-ups by powerful institutions, and many other reasons, most victims of child sexual abuse do not—and often cannot—disclose their abuse until after long after the legal deadlines have long passed.
In 2023, the Maryland legislature passed the Child Victims Act to address that reality: the law lifts the statute of limitations and allows victims of childhood sexual abuse to sue at any time. Valerie and other survivors then filed suit against the Key School and institutions that enabled their abuse. Another group of survivors sued the Archdiocese of Washington for abuse they experienced at the hands of clergy. But the institutions moved to dismiss the cases, arguing that in lifting the deadlines, the law violated their due process rights.
The Maryland Supreme Court took the case, and Public Justice and partner organizations filed two amicus briefs to support the survivors. The briefs argue that, far from violating the Maryland Constitution, the law fulfills that Constitution’s guarantee of access to justice. They catalogue the lifelong psychological and economic effects of sexual abuse and explain why most survivors do not come forward until well into adulthood. Maryland’s new law rightly recognizes these realities and gives thousands of survivors long-needed relief.
Our briefs were joined by American Association for Justice, the Maryland Association for Justice, CHILD USA, and Change the Conversation. The cases are The Key School, Inc. v. Valerie Bunker, Board of Education of Hartford County v. Doe, and Roman Catholic Archbishop of Washington v. Doe. The Court heard argument on September 10, 2024.
Core legal question: The Court will decide whether the Due Process Clause of the Maryland Constitution gave the defendants a “vested” property right to be free from liability for their wrongful conduct once the previous legal deadline had passed. Our brief explains why it does not: to the contrary, the Maryland Constitution supports the legislature’s right to provide victims access to justice.
