{"id":74602,"date":"2020-01-28T17:11:21","date_gmt":"2020-01-28T17:11:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/statute-of-limitations-change-may-not-help-those-already-sexually-abused\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T11:36:55","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T11:36:55","slug":"statute-of-limitations-change-may-not-help-those-already-sexually-abused","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/statute-of-limitations-change-may-not-help-those-already-sexually-abused\/","title":{"rendered":"Statute of limitations change may not help those already sexually abused"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"Christ
Christ the King Chapel, on the campus of the Archdiocese of Denver, is the chapel used by seminary students seeking the priesthood.<\/span>Courtesy of Archdiocese of Denver file<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Colorado lawmakers plan to bring legislation this year that would give child sexual assault victims unlimited time to sue their abusers and the institutions that protect the predators.<\/p>\n

But for people abused in the past \u2013 including the more than 150 victims of Catholic priests identified in a recent report<\/a> \u2013 it might be too late.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s because the legislature\u2019s attorneys say Colorado\u2019s constitution prevents laws from working retroactively and that once a statute of limitations has expired, a case cannot be reopened. Many survivors, however, don\u2019t come forward for decades after the abuse.<\/p>\n

Right now, child sex assault victims in Colorado have six years from the day they turn 18 to sue their abusers. They have just two years to sue an organization that allowed the abuse to continue or by shielded perpetrators.<\/p>\n

Even though other states have changed their statutes to allow survivors to retroactively sue, lawmakers pushing for the alteration to Colorado law say their hands are tied. But victims and their advocates say the constitutional question isn\u2019t settled and that they\u2019d like to see a fight.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we would have seen a constitutional path, we might have gone forward with it,\u201d said Rep. Dafna Michaelson Jenet, a Commerce City Democrat who is leading the charge to eliminate the statute of limitations. \u201cAt this point, I don\u2019t see one without being in really flagrant violation of the way our constitution was written in Colorado. This was done in some other states. Their constitutions are different than our constitution.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Rep.
Rep. Dafna Michaelson Jenet, D-Commerce City, speaks about mental health parity at The Colorado Sun\u2019s Big Ideas 2020 Forum at the Cable Center on the University of Denver campus on Jan. 14.<\/span>Eric Lubbers\/The Colorado Sun file<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

There are also political concerns: Backers of the bill think that trying to make a measure apply to past abuse could mean there wouldn\u2019t be enough votes to get any legislation addressing the civil statute of limitations for child sexual assault through the General Assembly in 2020.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe will lose certain members that we\u2019ve already gotten on board,\u201d said Rep. Matt Soper, a Delta Republican and another prime sponsor of the effort. Either way, he said, he\u2019s expecting a fierce battle.<\/p>\n

Some victims\u2019 advocates want Michaelson Jenet and Soper to try anyway. They want the bill to contain a clause that would, at the very least, allow any person who was sexually abused as a child to have a two-year window to file lawsuits against those who assaulted them.<\/p>\n

At least eight states, including Arizona and New Jersey, have laws giving victims a window to revive lawsuits against their abusers, according to CHILD USA, a national non-profit working to end child abuse and neglect.<\/p>\n

(For criminal cases, there is no statute of limitations for child sex assault in Colorado, though children are defined under state law as being age 14 or younger.)<\/p>\n

The divide between the lawmakers and the victims and their advocates led to tension during a recent stakeholder meeting about the bill. Michaelson Jenet and Soper were trying to manage expectations while the other side was pushing for them to take a leap.<\/p>\n

\"Colorado
Colorado Gov. Jared Polis delivers his second state of the state address in the house chambers at the state Capitol on Jan. 9<\/span>Courtesy of Kathryn Scott\/via The Colorado Sun file<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

\u201cWe\u2019re compromising against ourselves before we even start,\u201d said Ted Trimpa, a powerful Democratic lobbyist who is working on the legislation on behalf of the Victim Policy Institute, a national organization based in Virginia. \u201cThis is no time to be compromising with ourselves. We need to do what sounds impossible and show others what\u2019s impossible to us.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trimpa said during the meeting that he thinks the political tide will change once lawmakers hear stories of abuse and there is a public education campaign about the issue. \u201cThe only time, to be blunt, that we will have a chance of passing something like this is when we have Democratic control,\u201d Trimpa said of the fact that Democrats control the House, Senate and governor\u2019s office. \u201cTrifectas don\u2019t come by very often.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jeb Barrett, who directs the Denver chapter of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, said that national organizations representing child sex abuse victims are keeping tabs on how Colorado\u2019s laws change.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s an opportunity to shine,\u201d he said. \u201cThe assault of children has always been illegal, but we have had no access to the proven American justice system because of these predator-friendly, institutional-friendly statutes of limitations that they hide behind. They wait for them to expire before they admit to anything.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trimpa, who has hired a fellow lobbyist to speak to legislators about the coming measure and ensure they know victims\u2019 stories, solicited his own legal opinion on the constitutionality of retroactively eliminating the statute of limitations and giving the abused a two-year window to file lawsuits. Trimpa\u2019s attorneys say there is a path to hold organizations and people accountable for past child sex abuse, though he declined to share a copy of the legal opinion with The Colorado Sun.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s important that we hold them accountable to send a strong signal,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Michaelson Jenet says she spoke with Trimpa about what his attorney\u2019s found on Monday, but she thinks the path is very narrow.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, an opinion from the Office of Legislative Legal Services argues the exact opposite of Trimpa\u2019s attorneys.<\/p>\n

\u201cOnce a statute of limitations has run, it is unconstitutional for the General Assembly to revive a claim to which the statute of limitations defense applies,\u201d the opinion says. \u201cThus, the proposal to allow civil sexual abuse claims despite the statute of limitations would likely be found unconstitutional by a Colorado court.\u201d<\/p>\n

The legislature\u2019s attorneys also cited a Colorado Supreme Court ruling that holds: \u201cWhen the bar of the statute of limitations has once attached, the legislature cannot revive the action.\u201d<\/p>\n

Michaelson Jenet said she doesn\u2019t think the bill could overcome the constitutional issue. She says she wishes it were possible for the legislation to be retroactive, but she doesn\u2019t want to risk the entire measure by violating the constitution and having the bill overturned in court.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s fair that they want to settle the issue. Don\u2019t we all want to come to a resolution?\u201d she asked, adding that she has been working on the legislation for more than a year, long before the attorney general\u2019s report on Catholic priest abuse was released.<\/p>\n

Michaelson Jenet said she also might add a clause to the bill that allows the Colorado Attorney General\u2019s Office to oversee or administer voluntary reparations programs for organizations, like the Boy Scouts, in cases where children were abused on their watch.<\/p>\n

\"Colorado
Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser speaks to reporters Oct. 23 about a report on priest abuse in Colorado.<\/span>Jesse Paul\/The Colorado Sun file<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Right now, the AG\u2019s office is working with Colorado\u2019s three archdioceses to administer a voluntary reparations program compensating victims abuse by priests. Some victims, however, have reached out to The Colorado Sun and complained that the process is burdensome and unfairly asks for proof of crimes that happened when victims were young children.<\/p>\n

Trimpa also noted that the Catholic Church\u2019s reparations process is not open to people who were abused by religious order priests or seminarians.<\/p>\n

Sen. Bob Gardner, a Colorado Springs Republican and leading conservative legal voice in the Capitol, applauds the idea of voluntary reparations programs. He\u2019s opposed to eliminating the statute of limitations for civil child sex assault cases \u2013 though he would be OK with a \u201cvery lengthy\u201d extension \u2013 and sees retroactivity as being constitutionally impossible.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs an attorney, I just have difficulty with the idea that a claim would be finally extinguished at some point \u2013 as these have been \u2013 and then the state could come back and somehow give someone a right that did not exist,\u201d Gardner said. \u201cWe just don\u2019t do that in Anglo-American law. It\u2019s happened in several states. I\u2019ve been surprised that there\u2019s not been more litigation. But maybe it\u2019s just because those statutes are too new to have risen to the point of appeals.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Denver Archdiocese told The Colorado Sun that it doesn\u2019t think any change to Colorado\u2019s statute of limitations should be retroactive.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are aware of a potential bill to change the statute of limitations in Colorado, though we have not seen a draft and therefore cannot comment on specifics,\u201d said Mark Haas, a spokesman for the archdiocese. \u201cWe believe that any change to the statute of limitations should be prospective, and drafted in a manner that is reasonable, consistent and fair to everyone.\u201d<\/p>\n

Haas added that the church is \u201cfocused on our own efforts to support survivors,\u201d specifically through the reparations program.<\/p>\n

Legislation to eliminate Colorado\u2019s civil statute of limitations for child sex assault cases is expected to be introduced in the coming weeks.<\/p>\n

The Colorado Sun is a reader-supported, journalist-owned news outlet exploring issues of statewide interest. Sign up for a newsletter and read more at coloradosun.com.<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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