UPDATE (6/16/24): The Louisiana Supreme Court and the state legislature have reopened the courthouse doors through June 2027 for adult Louisianans subjected to childhood sexual assault. During that “lookback window,” survivors may bring claims and seek justice from their abusers.
The Wall Street Journal’s Isaac Wu recently published, “Laws Giving Childhood Sex-Abuse Victims More Time to Sue Face Uncertainty.”
Many U.S. states have enacted legislation opening the statutes of limitation for filing lawsuits against perpetrators for childhood sexual abuse. Louisiana’s legislature passed Act 322 unanimously in June 2021. This legislation gives sexual abuse survivors a three-year window to file civil lawsuits for damages — even if the originally-applicable statutes of limitation had expired. Since the act’s passage, various Catholic entities have challenged the constitutionality of these laws’ “lookback window” provisions, which allows claimants to sue regardless of when their experiences occurred.
Wall Street Journal, “Advocates say such delays, as well as legal uncertainties, could deter others from coming forward. ‘Survivors don’t want to blow up their lives and then find out the law gets overturned and it was for nothing,’ said Kristi Schubert,” Lamothe Law Firm attorney.
