Maryland lawmakers pass bill to limit future liabilities amid thousands of claims of sexual abuse

ANNAPOLIS, Md. — Maryland lawmakers passed a measure Saturday to try to limit future liabilities from claims of sexual abuse at state and private institutions after thousands of people unexpectedly came forward with allegations of abuse, many of them in youth detention centers, putting potentially billions of dollars at stake for the state.

The wave of cases targeting the state’s juvenile justice system resulted after Maryland eliminated the statute of limitations for child sexual abuse claims two years ago with the Catholic Church abuse scandal in mind.

The action comes as Los Angeles County has announced it plans to pay $4 billion to settle nearly 7,000 claims of childhood sexual abuse that allegedly occurred inside its juvenile facilities and foster homes, in what would be the largest sex abuse settlement in U.S. history.

The Maryland measure, which now goes to Gov. Wes Moore, reduces caps on settlements from $890,000 to $400,000 for cases filed after May 31 for state institutions and from $1.5 million to $700,000 for private institutions. It also changes the 2023 law to allow each claimant to receive only one payment, instead of being able to collect for each incident of abuse.

State Sen. Will Smith, who chairs the Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee, said it has been estimated that Maryland is facing a potential liability between $3 billion and $4 billion.

Smith, a Democrat, noted that lawmakers approved the 2023 Child Victims Act in response “to a long fight to have justice for victims of child sex abuse, where our prior framework barred some of those claims if you were above the age of 38.”

“But what we could never have anticipated was just the sheer volume of cases that ensued,” Smith said.

During debate Saturday, lawmakers said about 1,500 cases already have been filed. In addition, 4,500 other cases have come to light, lawmakers said, and attorneys for plaintiffs have been in settlement discussions with Maryland Atty. Gen. Anthony Brown’s office.

Sen. Justin Ready, a Republican who is the Senate minority whip, said the state liability could potentially be even higher than the estimate cited by Smith.

“We just spent all session wrestling with a $3-billion deficit, which is a huge deficit, and we’ve been fighting about that and debating it, discussing it. … Just one settlement from this very well could end up being that entire amount, and that is not the end of this,” Ready said.

Sen. Chris West, a fellow Republican, said he doubted the provision in the bill that would limit someone to sue for only one individual case, rather than for each incident of abuse, would survive a court challenge, based on prior rulings by the Maryland Supreme Court.

“If the Supreme Court follows the guidance of prior Supreme Court decisions, they will hold that our attempt to deny people the right to file cases to recover for multiple occurrences is unconstitutional, because those rights for the past two years have been vested,” West said. “The people have had the right to file those cases.”

Smith told reporters Friday that he believed a settlement “is the optimal solution here.”

“We’re hoping that the attorney general and the plaintiffs can get together and work out a settlement,” he said.

Maryland lawmakers passed the Child Victims Act in the immediate aftermath of a scathing investigative report by the attorney general’s office that revealed widespread abuse within the Archdiocese of Baltimore. Before its passage, victims couldn’t sue after they turned 38. The law change prompted the archdiocese to file for bankruptcy to protect its assets.

The Maryland Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of the law in a 4-3 ruling in February.

The measure approved Saturday also would cap attorneys’ fees at 20% for cases that settle out of court and 25% for cases resolved in court.

The Senate voted 36 to 7 for the bill on Saturday, and the House voted 92 to 40 in favor a short time later, sending the bill to the governor.

Witte writes for the Associated Press.