In a win for plaintiffs in child sexual abuse cases, a Louisiana appeals court has affirmed the constitutionality of a 2021 state law allowing accusers to file lawsuits that were previously barred by a statute of limitations.
The state’s Third Circuit Court of Appeal said in a 3-2 decision that a plaintiff identified only as Sam Doe had grounds for filing a lawsuit against the Diocese of Lafayette under the provisions of Act 322, which the legislature passed two years ago.
Doe alleged that he was inappropriately touched by Father Stanley Begnaud in 1961 or 1962 when Begnaud was a priest at St. Stephen’s Catholic Church in Berwick, La., according to the Aug. 17 opinion. Doe has said he did not recall the priest’s actions, which occurred when Doe was 16 years old, until 2019 during the course of years-long counseling.
Issues raised by the lawsuit eventually reached the state Supreme Court, which sent the case back to the Third Circuit with instructions to determine the constitutionality of the law and whether the law revives such sexual abuse claims that were barred under a previous statute of limitations.
The Legislature’s 2022 amendment to the law in question “manifested a clear and unequivocal intent to apply Act 386 retroactively and revive all sexual abuse claims that were prescribed under the prior law,” the opinion states.
Doe’s attorneys – Richard Trahant, Soren Gisleson and Johnny Denenea – said in a joint statement emailed to the Louisiana Record that the appeals court decision represents a win for survivors of childhood sexual abuse.
“For years, the science has shown that most of these victim-survivors do not come forward, if at all, until later in life,” the statement says. “The average age is 52 for survivors to come forward. The three judges in the majority, and especially Chief Judge (Elizabeth) Pickett, just caught the law up with the science. It is the sincere hope of all victim-survivors that the Louisiana Supreme Court follows the incredibly in-depth legal analysis of this decision.”
The Diocese of Lafayette did not respond to a request for comment.
The appeals court decision noted that the laws in question – Acts 322 and 386 – aimed to revive legal claims of minors’ sexual abuse for a period of three years.
“... The diocese did not protect children from priests reported to have sexually abused minors, thereby allowing such abuse to continue,” the opinion says, “and the diocese can assert prescription against claims asserted after June 14, 2024.”
In a dissent, Judge Guy Bradberry argued that past decisions issued by the state Supreme Court equate the previous statute of limitations in child sexual abuse case to a property right.
“In my opinion, the law as stated in the Louisiana Supreme Court’s many prior pronouncements sets forth that prescription has clearly been held to be a vested property right, and that revival is still, to this point, unconstitutional,” Bradberry said. “Therefore, I must dissent from the majority’s ruling.”