In a split decision late last month, the Louisiana Supreme Court stopped short of ruling on the constitutionality of recent state laws that allow victims of childhood sexual abuse an extended chance to file civil lawsuits seeking damages.
The high court ruled June 27 that a trial court erred in finding a statute passed in 2021 and updated last year was unconstitutional. The new measures passed by the state Legislature allow child abuse victims who were barred from filing legal complaints under previous statutes to initiate lawsuits by June 14 of next year.
The justices issued the opinion after a review of the case of T.S. vs. Holy Cross Southern Province Inc. The plaintiff claimed that a former Holy Cross teacher sexually abused him in 1964 or 1965 when he was 11 years old.
The high court’s opinion concluded that the plaintiff was nevertheless not eligible to sue based on procedural issues, and the court’s majority held that deciding whether the laws are constitutional was premature.
“While we acknowledge this case presents a sensitive issue which is important to the citizens of our state, we cannot ignore the fundamental principles of orderly statutory interpretation,” the majority opinion says.
Attorneys at the Lamothe Law Firm in New Orleans told the Louisiana Record that the court tends not to rule on constitutional issues when they can decide a case on other grounds. But even so, the clock is ticking for victims of childhood sexual abuse, they said.
“Survivors of sexual abuse have been waiting for justice,” attorney Frank Lamothe III said. “Now once again they’re delayed.”
Trial attorney Kristi Schubert said that as a result of the court’s silence on the constitutionality of of the litigation extension, many survivors of childhood sexual abuse may decide not to seek justice through lawsuits.
“For those people, they might end up missing the window (to file) because it’s been so long that they have just given up hope entirely,” Schubert said. “… It’s a loss for the whole state of Louisiana.”
When survivors are encouraged to come forward, the result is that hidden child predators are identified, she said.
Chief Justice John Weimer dissented from the court’s opinion.
“Setting aside that decision only delays the inevitable need to resolve the constitutional issue,” Weimer said. “The highest court in this state should resolve the underlying issue to provide necessary resolution and then closure, which these parties and countless others still hope to find.”