CHILD USA together with the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests, Zero Abuse Project, and Professor Leslie C. Griffin, drafted this amicus brief asking the Court to reject Defendants claim that purported religious organizations are immune from judicial oversight and ultimately legal...
CHILD USA together with CHILD USAdvocacy, The Center for Child Policy, The Kempe Foundation, and the National Center on Sexual Exploitation wrote this brief in support Plaintiff's Motion seeking to unseal the deposition testimony of Lawrence Hecker, a known pedophile living freely in the...
by Leslie C. Griffin* I am waiting for the Maine Supreme Court to decide a case about sexual abuse and the statute of limitations [SOL].1 Statutes of limitations are rules that explain when the courts are open or closed to victims of abuse. I am particularly interested in the implications of that...
by Leslie C. Griffin* The abuse of children by Catholic clergy has a long history in the State of Maine. The Beginning Some initial news about Catholic Maine abuse was released when the Maine Supreme Court ordered it. In Blethen Maine Newspapers v. Maine, 871 A.2d 523 (Me. 2005), the Supreme Court...
by Rob Jenner Jenner Law, P.C. Baltimore, Maryland Last month a dedicated team of lawyers presented oral argument before the Maryland Supreme Court in support of the Maryland Child Victims Act (CVA) of 2023. The heart of the legal battle concerned the statutory language that existed in the 2017...
by Leslie C. Griffin* This post will tell you about them. New Hampshire has one Catholic Diocese of Manchester, which includes many schools and parishes. New Hampshire has changed its statute of limitations [SOL] for sexual abuse several times. The SOL determines when your time begins and ends to...
by Leslie C. Griffin* There is one Roman Catholic diocese in Vermont, the Diocese of Burlington.1 On September 30, 2024, Kevin O’Connor reported that the diocese had gone into bankruptcy, becoming the fortieth Catholic organization to do so.2 In the bankruptcy papers, Bishop John McDermott of the...
by Leslie C. Griffin* You have probably read more about abuse and abusers in my last four blog posts than you believed was even possible. It is an exhausting list. Yet there are still many more cases before us, even now, in 2024. As the statutes of limitations change, new cases begin in...
CHILD USA together with the Oregon Trial Lawyers Association, Zero Abuse Project, Oregon Abuse Advocates & Survivors in Service, National Crime Victim Law Institute, and The National Center for Victims of Crime submitted this amicus brief urging the Court to deny Defendants' veiled request for...