Maryland Child Victims Act
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| Maryland Child Victims Act | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Maryland State Legislature | |
| Full name | Civil Actions - Child Sexual Abuse - Definition, Damages, and Statute of Limitations |
| Introduced | November 16, 2022 |
| House voted | March 20, 2023 (132–2) |
| Senate voted | March 23, 2023 (42–4) |
| Sponsors | |
| Governor | Wes Moore |
| Bill | HB 1 |
| Associated bills | SB 686 |
| Website | Legislation |
Status: Current legislation | |
The Maryland Child Victims Act is a law in the U.S. state of Maryland passed by the Maryland General Assembly during the 445th legislative session in 2023 and signed into law by Governor Wes Moore. It retroactively and prospectively repeals the statute of limitations on child sexual abuse lawsuits and raises the liability limits for a single plaintiff for claims against private institutions. Its first version was introduced by former Democratic state senator James Brochin in 2007. Iterations of the proposal were put forth during the 425th, 435th, 436th, 437th, 439th, 441st, 442nd, and 445th legislative sessions.
In February 2019, after the Pennsylvania Attorney General released a report into the grand jury investigation of Catholic Church sexual abuse in Pennsylvania, Maryland Attorney General Brian Frosh launched an investigation into sexual abuse in the Archdiocese of Baltimore. The final report was released in November 2022, identifying 600 victims of sexual abuse and accusing 158 Catholic priests of sexual abuse. The Child Victims Act was reintroduced to the General Assembly, with provisions raising the liability limits for a single plaintiff against private institutions to $1.5 million. The bill passed both chambers with overwhelming support and was signed into law by Governor Moore on April 11, 2023.
The Child Victims Act was subject to legal challenges by the Archdiocese of Washington, which argued that the law was unconstitutional because of the statute of repose passed by the General Assembly in 2017. The Supreme Court of Maryland ruled in February 2025 that the Child Victims Act superseded the 2017 law and was constitutional. In 2025, after state budget analysts found that the law could have significant fiscal impacts on the state, the General Assembly passed a bill lowering plaintiff's liability limits and signed into law by Governor Moore.
Legislative efforts to reform Maryland's statute of limitations for sexual abuse lawsuits started in 2015, and saw some success with the passing of a 2017 bill expanding the statute of limitations to until the victim turns 38 years old, but were largely limited by lobbying efforts by the Maryland Catholic Conference—a Catholic Church lobbying organization representing the Archdiocese of Baltimore, Archdiocese of Washington, and the Diocese of Wilmington.[1] According to lobbying records analyzed by The Baltimore Banner, the dioceses have spent more than $1 million on lobbying efforts to disrupt these efforts since 2017,[2] including $200,000 toward hiring former lawmakers and government officials (most notably Robert Zirkin and former Martin O'Malley spokesperson Rick Abbruzzese) as lobbyists.[1]
In February 2019, following the Pennsylvania Attorney General's release of the report into the grand jury investigation of Catholic Church sexual abuse in Pennsylvania, Maryland Attorney General Brian Frosh reportedly hired Elizabeth Embry, the former chief of the attorney general's criminal division, to lead a probe of sex abuse in the Archdiocese of Baltimore.[3] Archbishop William E. Lori confirmed in September 2018 that the archdiocese was under investigation by the state and said that it had given the attorney general more than 50,000 pages of internal documents dating back to 1965.[4] The Office of the Attorney General concluded its investigation on November 17, 2022, and later released a 456-page report identifying 600 victims of sexual abuse and accusing 158 Catholic priests, including 43 that were previously never publicly identified by the Archdiocese, of sexual abuse.[5][6][7]
In September 2025, the Supreme Court of Maryland heard arguments on the release of the Attorney General's unredacted report on child sexual abuse by the Baltimore Archdiocese.[8] On April 27, 2026, the Supreme Court ruled that Maryland could not publicize the names of clergy and staff who were cited in a grand jury probe of sexual assault of children, but never charged with any crimes.[9]
Impact
Law firms and attorneys began advertising services to abuse survivors shortly after the bill was signed into law.[10] Lawsuits against the archdiocese as well as Maryland's juvenile justice system and school system were filed days after the Child Victims Act went into effect on October 1, 2023.[11][12][13]
Legal challenges
In November 2023, the Archdiocese of Washington filed a lawsuit challenging the Child Victims Act, arguing that the law violated the statute of repose provision in the 2017 bill.[14] Attorneys representing multiple victims of child sexual abuse from members of the Catholic clergy from the Washington archdiocese defended the law by arguing that the archdiocese's lawyers had misinterpreted prior precedents set by the Maryland Supreme Court on the legislature's ability to modify the statute of limitations.[15] Maryland Attorney General Anthony Brown also defended the law in court, arguing that the court siding with the archdiocese "would be unprecedented and would go against the consensus of federal law and the reasoned opinions of many other states."[16]
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Prince George's County Circuit Court Judge Robin D. Gill ruled that the Maryland Child Victims Act was constitutional on March 6, 2024.[17] On April 1, 2024, Montgomery County Circuit Court Judge Jeannie E. Cho ruled that the law was unconstitutional, finding that it violated the Maryland Declaration of Rights; the ruling was appealed to the Maryland Supreme Court,[18] who agreed to hear the case on May 7, 2024,[19] later setting arguments for September 10, 2024.[20] On February 3, 2025, the Court issued a decision that, by a vote of 4–3, upheld the Child Victims Act. Chief Justice Matthew J. Fader wrote the majority opinion, holding that the 2017 law was "an ordinary statute of limitations, not a statue of repose" and was superseded by the Child Victims Act.[21]
In mid-2025 there was a temporary stay on Child Victims Act cases in Baltimore City Circuit Court. In October 2025, after about a five-month pause, those cases resumed. [22]
Archdiocese of Baltimore bankruptcy
The Archdiocese of Baltimore filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on September 29, 2023, citing the Child Victims Act and the "great number of lawsuits" that were expected to be filed against the archdiocese after the bill went into effect on October 1.[23] The bankruptcy filing was protested by church abuse victims, as bankruptcy proceedings automatically stopped civil proceedings against the archdiocese until an agreement is reached between church representatives and plaintiffs' attorneys.[11] Lawyers for the archdiocese said that parishes and schools would contribute funds to a larger settlement for sexual abuse survivors.[24]
In December 2023, U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge Michelle M. Harner ruled that child sexual abuse survivors could submit claims against the archdiocese in bankruptcy court.[25] More than 700 claims were filed against the archdiocese ahead of the May 31, 2024 deadline.[20] Archbishop William E. Lori attended bankruptcy hearings on May 20, 2024, to listen to victims testify about the sexual abuse committed by Catholic clergy.[26]
Maryland state government
As of January 2025, about 3,500 lawsuits involving allegations of sexual abuse against state agencies have been filed against state agencies, mainly in the juvenile justice system. State analysts have warned that settling these cases could cost the state hundreds of millions, if not billions, of dollars.[27]
C. T. Wilson, the sponsor of the Child Victims Act, told The Baltimore Banner that he would support putting additional guardrails on how much money abuse survivors could collect from the state, saying that the law "wasn't about the money" but rather "giving victims the opportunity to approach their abusers".[28] After the Supreme Court of Maryland ruled that the Child Victims Act was constitutional, Senate President Bill Ferguson and Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee chair William C. Smith Jr. said that lawmakers would consider legislation that would close the lookback window for filing child sexual abuse lawsuits after a certain date.[29] In February 2025, Wilson introduced a bill that would reinstate the statute of limitations, but later said that he only agreed to the bill after having read its title and would be rewriting the bill to establish a survivors' fund.[30] The bill was rewritten to lower the amount of money survivors could win in court to $400,000 for public institutions and $700,000 for private institutions—which would only apply to claims filed after June 1, 2025—and clarifies that survivors are subject to the same liability limit even if they were abused multiple times.[31] Supporters of the Child Victims Act opposed Wilson's new bill, saying that it was unconstitutional or would wrongly hurt sexual abuse victims.[32][33] The Maryland Attorney General's Office wrote to Wilson to advise that the proposed changes would likely face court challenges, but were "not clearly unconstitutional" and could be defended in court.[34] The bill passed the Maryland General Assembly in April 2025,[31] and was signed into law by Governor Wes Moore later that month.[35]
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