Chicago Injury Lawyer Blog
The Arizona Senate Judiciary Committee has approved a bill that would give sexual abuse victims an entire lifetime to sue their abusers and also open one year window for those abused within the past 35 years. The bill, SB 1292, would allow former sexual abuse victims one year to file suit even if the time limit for filing a claim has previously run out. The measure passed through the Senate committee without dissent. The bill will now be considered by the entire Arizona Senate.
The passing of the bill was preceded by a plea from Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeau who told legislators last week that he was a victim of childhood sexual abuse. Babeau noted the importance of providing a civil remedy for those that were harmed by sexual abuse and a means of exposing sexual predators. The acting director of the National Center for Victims of Crime agreed testifying that, “Pedophiles don’t retire. Even when the victim waits 30 years to disclose the abuse, if the perpetrator is still alive, we find them at 70 or 80 years old, in walkers and wheelchairs, continuing to molest kids.”
The one year window would offer an opportunity for many victims to finally seek justice for the harms they have suffered. Similar measures have been successful in other states in exposing sexual predators. The Klest Law Firm has almost thirty years of experience handling civil sexual abuse cases. If you have any questions regarding civil sexual abuse cases, please click here.