PA: Grand Jury Report on Sexual Abuse of Children in the Altoona-Johnstown Diocese; Statute of Limitations Debate

On Tuesday, a grand jury report was issued regarding the sexual molestation of hundreds of children over a 40-year period in the Altoona-Johnstown Diocese.  The allegations are disturbing to read.  The report recommended abolishing the criminal statute of limitations for sex crimes against minors and opening a window to allow sexual abuse victims to bring civil claims.  Several bills have been introduced in the legislature.  Parallel bills by Rep. Mark Rozzi, himself a sex abuse survivor, and Sen. Rob Teplitz would give victims until the age of 50 to file suit (up from the current age of 30) and would open a brief window for those whose claims would be time-barred by the 50-year limit.  Sam Marshall, the President and CEO of the Insurance Federation of Pennsylvania opposes the bills:

“We are allowed to reserve only for claims that are possible. Once a statute of limitations has passed, we can’t hold or reserve money for that because claims are no longer possible,” Marshall said. He questioned whether the grand jury in making its recommendations gave any consideration of the insurance regulation aspect of it.

“I realize that’s not the driving concern in any of this but it is from an insurance perspective,” he said. “It’s a question of how can you be liable for something they claim for which by law you weren’t allowed to reserve money for. That’s the challenge here.”

The debate reminds me of one of Jeffrey O’Connell’s favorite statements about the difficulty of mixing morality and mathematics, something that happens constantly with tort law and insurance.  Still the moral aspect of tort is very strong in this instance, not muted as it is in so many contexts.  PennLive has the story.  The Patriot News, in an editorial, supports the report’s statute of limitations recommendations.