A newly introduced resolution aims to make clear the legislature intent when it created a "lookback window" for child sex abuse victims, a law deemed unconstitutional by the .Ìý
, introduced Wednesday by Sen. W. Jay Leneau, a Pineville Democrat, reaffirms the intentions of the Legislature when it created Act 322, later amended to Act 386 in 2022, which created a three-year window for adults who suffered sexual abuse as minors to file in civil court.
Leneau said the resolution has no power of law but acts as a rebuke to the recent state Supreme Court ruling in the Bienvenu et al case.Ìý
The Louisiana Supreme Court on March 22 deemed the lookback law unconstitutional by a 4-3 majority. The court argued the state can extend legal time limits for civil claims but once that time has expired and the claim is prescribed, it is extinguished.
The decision came as a surprise to Leneau, who said he believes the court interpreted the law incorrectly. The court determined that the intent of the law was not to be applied retroactively but Leneau said he always intended for that to be the case.ÌýÂ
"Intent is always important. The question the courts ultimately have to decide is what did the legislature intend to do with this law? I don't think they determined the right intention, at least not what I intended," Leneau said.
The proposed resolution acknowledges "numerous constitutional challenges" have been made against the state's lookback laws. However, it argues, victims of child sex abuse are a "unique tort to which ordinary laws of the prescription should not apply" and that victims should be allowed to file civil suit within a certain period of time and they "should not be limited in time by legislative enactment."
Leneau said he hopes the resolution will provide new legal avenues for victims to receive justice in civil courts.
Lawyers and advocacy groups representing victims have argued the state Supreme Court erred in its decision. Residents like Stephen McEvoy, a child sex abuse victim of former , said that the state Supreme Court decision leaves victims with no recourse for the pain they have suffered.Ìý
"Children of child sexual abuse have no rights pretty much. Once you turn 18 your rights are over and that's not right," McEvoy said.Ìý
McEvoy said victims often take years or decades to come to realization that they were molested and sexually abused. The power dynamic existing in a home or church setting might also keep children from coming forward within the statue of limitation provided by the state.Ìý
The mental turmoil of abuse often follows victims for the entirety of their lives, McEvoy said. Those struggles can sometimes have fatal endings and require medication and therapy that quickly rack up in cost, he said.
Compensation is the least victims can be granted but the civil courts also allow for some level of closure or acknowledgment of the abuse victims have suffered, McEvoy said.ÌýÂ
Staff writer John Simerman contributed to this report.
