COLORADO, USA — The Colorado Supreme Court has a big question to answer, and it could impact childhood sex abuse survivors. Justices are deciding if a law passed in 2021 is constitutional.
The Child Sexual Abuse Accountability Act created a three-year window that began in 2022 where survivors of child sex abuse dating back to the 1960s could sue an abuser or an organization that knew or should have known of a risk of sexual misconduct.
The case before the Colorado Supreme Court stems from a 2022 lawsuit filed in Arapahoe County by a woman now in her 30s. She sued Aurora Public Schools and a coach for abuse she claimed happened at Rangeview High School 20 years ago.
If justices decide the 2021 law is unconstitutional, it wouldn't allow victims to hold their perpetrators liable.
"From either side, it is about rights of people and protecting those rights and making sure the constitution is upheld," said Nelson Boyle, an attorney involved in the Colorado Supreme Court Case.
Boyle's side, along with a victim of abuse, is arguing a support of the 2021 law.
"This is about protecting children. This isn't any statute of limitations, you know, say for someone who falls in a hole or gets in a car crash," he said.
The court in Arapahoe County tossed out the woman's lawsuit, finding it "constitutes retrospective action which is unconstitutional." The Colorado Supreme Court decided to take on the case.
Justices heard oral arguments from an attorney for Aurora Public Schools and an attorney for the plaintiffs, the woman and her husband.
"The general assembly can do many things, but what it can't do is take the legislative priorities of 2022 and transport them back in time onto conduct that occurred during the final year of the Eisenhower administration," said W. Stuart Stuller, the attorney for Aurora Public Schools.
Aurora Public Schools claims they have a right to be protected from these lawsuits because too much time has passed.
"I think what is so challenging, obviously, about this context is but for this reopening of a window many victims here would not have an opportunity to seek justice for the harms they have suffered," said Justice Monica Márquez.
Justices are expected to make a decision by July. If they rule in favor of Aurora Public Schools, Boyle said lawmakers could try to amend the statute. Or the ruling could say they couldn't do that and all of the lawsuits would be tossed out, Boyle said.
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