CHARLOTTE — The North Carolina Supreme Court has ruled the two-year “revival window” in the state’s 2019 SAFE Child Act is constitutional, making way for lawsuits filed by adults alleging they were sexually abused as children years ago to proceed through the courts.
Claims were filed during the law’s revival period in 2020 and 2021, accusing a range of defendants and their employers of abuse – including the Diocese of Charlotte and other churches, schools, the YMCA, Boy Scouts and a volunteer fire department, among others.
The diocese said in a statement it “seeks justice for all parties” involved, and now “will engage in the legal process and evaluate the evidence” in the historical cases against it. The claims against the diocese date back to the 1950s, “and in some cases no witnesses and little or no information is available,” the statement said.
The diocese says it has strict protections in place to ensure a safe environment in all of its churches, schools and facilities, and thousands of personnel and volunteers have completed its Safe Environment awareness program.
The key challenge to the SAFE Child Act’s revival window came in a case against the Gaston County Board of Education, which was sued years after an ex-high school wrestling coach was convicted of crimes against a team member.
The board’s attorneys argued the revival window ran afoul of the North Carolina constitution’s due process clause, which for more than 100 years had been interpreted by North Carolina’s Supreme Court to prevent revival of claims where the statute of limitations had already run out. They argued it would be difficult or impossible to defend these claims and see justice done given the passage of time, destroyed records, and the loss of other evidence and witnesses.
Writing for the court, Chief Justice Paul Newby said that a constitutional provision barring “retrospective laws” applies only to retroactive criminal and certain tax laws – not civil claims for monetary compensation. “Our precedents confirm that the General Assembly may retroactively amend the statute of limitations for tort claims,” Newby wrote.
In 2019, the diocese brought independent investigators in to review its personnel and other historical records to surface all credible claims of child sexual abuse against clergy in the history of the diocese. It published a list of those credibly accused on its accountability website, along with its Safe Environment policies, resources for parents, and a link to its independent Red Flag reporting hotline. The site is located at accountability.charlottediocese.org.
— Catholic News Herald