PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — A lawyer for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Portland told supreme court justices Thursday that Maine’s elimination of time limits on
child sex abuse lawsuits is unconstitutional and imposes new liabilities, a reference to costly lawsuits that have driven some dioceses into bankruptcy.
The Supreme Judicial Court heard highly technical arguments at the Penobscot Judicial Center in Bangor during a packed hearing that underscored the stakes of its ultimate decision. Maine removed its time limits in 2000 to sue over childhood sexual abuse, but not retroactively, leaving survivors without recourse for older cases dating back decades.
Gerald Petruccelli, an attorney for the Diocese of Portland, said Thursday that previous case law was laid forth in a 1981 decision concluded “the Legislature has no constitutional authority to enact legislation if its implementation impairs vested rights, or imposes liabilities that would result from conduct predating the legislation.”
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