SJC upholds 35 year statute on sexual abuse cases

This morning the Supreme Judicial Court upheld as constitutional the 2014 Massachusetts addition of a 35 year statute of limitations in civil cases against sexual abusers, saying:

Until June, 2014, civil actions alleging sexual abuse of a minor, which may be brought pursuant to G. L. c. 260, § 4C (§ 4C), were governed by a three-year statute of limitations. G. L. c. 260, § 4C. Section 4C was amended effective June 26, 2014, to extend the limitations period from three years to thirty-five years. The plaintiff, Rosanne Sliney, filed an action in 2012 alleging that her uncle, the defendant Domenic A. Previte, Jr., had sexually abused her between 1968 and 1977, when she was a child.

We consider here two questions: whether, in the circumstances presented, § 4C’s extended statute of limitations applies to the
plaintiff’s case, and, if so, whether the retroactive application is constitutional. We answer both questions yes