HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

152nd GENERAL ASSEMBLY

HOUSE BILL NO. 417

AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 10 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO THE STATUTE OF LIMITATIONS FOR CIVIL CLAIMS BASED ON SEXUAL ABUSE OF A MINOR.

WHEREAS, following the Boston revelations in 2002, 22 states now have followed the pioneering examples of California and Delaware in enacting Child Victim Act legislation for survivors of childhood sexual abuse; and

WHEREAS, the most recent example is Maryland where S.B. 686 (“The Child Victims Act of 2023”) was signed by its Governor April 11, 2023, which retroactively removed the statute of limitations for all claims of sexual abuse of a minor in that State; and

WHEREAS, Delaware needs to revisit its Child Victims Act of 2007, which only opened a two year window for stale legal claims to be filed; and

WHEREAS, the Child Victims Act of 2007 allowed claims for some survivors, it excluded those abused as children in the 1990s and up to July 9, 2005; and

WHEREAS, for example, an 8 year old child sexually abused in 1999 would be 33 today and was only 16 when Delaware had its two year window for legal claims; and

WHEREAS, children such as this were not protected by The Child Victims Act of 2007; and

WHEREAS, this entire class is far from the age of 52, the average age survivors are finally able to seek justice for their ruined lives, if at all; and

WHEREAS, in enacting its Child Victims Act, Delaware was on the forefront of a revolution for children; and

WHEREAS, after the Delaware General Assembly unanimously enacted SB 29, The Child Victims Act of 2007, Governor Minner signed it on July 10, 2007; and

WHEREAS, the Delaware Supreme Court in Sheehan v. Oblates of St. Francis de Sales, 15 A.3d 1247 (Del. 2011) (en banc), unanimously upheld the Child Victims Act over challenges that retroactivity and changes to the statute of limitations were unconstitutional; and

WHEREAS, since that time, numerous states have followed Delaware’s lead and enacted similar statute of limitations windows, allowing previously time barred lawsuits to be brought, including New York, New Jersey, Hawaii, Vermont, Montana, North Carolina, Washington, D.C., Arizona, and Maryland, among others. California has enacted multiple windows over the years, as has Minnesota; and

WHEREAS, this present legislation seeks to reset Delaware at the head of the line of states seeking to give full justice to survivors of childhood sexual abuse who were not able to seek justice through the Child Victims Act of 2007.

NOW, THEREFORE:

BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF DELAWARE:

Section 1. Amend § 8145, Title 10 of the Delaware Code by making deletions as shown by strike through and insertions as shown by underline as follows:

§ 8145. Civil suits for damages based upon sexual abuse of a minor by an adult.

(b) For a period of 2 years following July 9, 2007, victims Survivors of child sexual abuse that occurred in this State who have been barred from filing suit as set forth in subsection (a) against their abusers by virtue of the expiration of the former a civil statute of limitations, shall be are permitted to file those claims in the Superior Court of this State. If the person committing the act of sexual abuse against a minor was employed by an institution, agency, firm, business, corporation, or other public or private legal entity that owned a duty of care to the victim, or the accused and the minor were engaged in some activity over which the legal entity had some degree of responsibility or control, damages against the legal entity shall be awarded under this subsection only if there is a finding of gross negligence on the part of the legal entity.

SYNOPSIS

Survivors of child sexual abuse that occurred in this State who have been barred from filing suit against their abusers by virtue of the expiration of the former civil statute of limitations, shall be permitted to file those claims in the Superior Court of this State at any time. This is intended to apply retroactively.