Senate panel holds hearing on bill to limit state’s exposure to sex abuse claims

Critics told a Senate panel Friday that a bill aimed at protecting the state from billions in potential sex abuse claims is ill-advised and being rushed through in the waning days of the legislature.

The comments came during a hearing by the Judicial Proceedings Committee on House Bill 1378, which just passed the House on Thursday and could be before the full Senate as early as Saturday. Legislative leaders are rushing to beat the final day of the 2025 session on Monday.

“This is a really, really important piece of legislation. It is terrible that it’s being handled in such a quick way at the end of the session with two people speaking,” said Tom Yost, a Baltimore attorney with clients who said they were sexually abused as children while in state custody.

Corey Stern, the other witness against the bill, said it is likely unconstitutional.

“It is well settled under Maryland law that plaintiffs have a vested right in an accrued cause of action, whether it’s based on statute or common law,” said Stern, an attorney with Levy Konigsberg, which is representing child sexual abuse clients. “The minute that Gov. Moore signed the bill into law, those rights vested for individuals who have been sexually abused.”

The law he’s referring to is the 2023 Child Victims Act that removed time limits on lawsuits by survivors of child sexual abuse against the institutions that employed their abusers. The law capped awards for such suits at $890,000 for public institutions, like state agencies, and $1.5 million for private institutions, like the Catholic Church or scouting organizations.

Thousands of claimants, representing a potentially budget-busting bilions in payouts, have since lined up against the state alone for abuse they suffered while children in state care.

Del. C.T. Wilson (D-Charles), himself a survivor of childhood physical and sexual abuse, had pushed for years for the Child Victims Act before winning it in 2023. But when the budget implications became clear, he introduced HB1378 a month into this year’s session.

The bill would lower the cap on lawsuits filed after June 1, from $890,000 to $400,000 for public institutions and from $1.5 million to $700,000 for private institutions. It also narrows the scope of the term “incident” so that all crimes by one abuser against one victim would count as one incident, rather than one incident for every separate assault.

The bill would also cap fees for attorneys at 20% for cases that settle out of court and 25% for cases that result from a court judgment.

Now lawmakers are racing the clock to pass the measure, with the time left in the legislative session being measured now in hours instead of days.

Del. Luke Clippinger (D-Baltimore City), chair of the House Judiciary Committee, who testified Friday on behalf of Wilson, said about 1,500 lawsuits have been filed so far and another 4,000 cases are waiting to go forward. He said it’s unclear how many are against public or private entities and when they would be filed.

“We’re at a situation, we’re at a point where I believe and the House believes that it’s important for us to begin to figure out how many of these claims are out there,” he said.

Sen. Jeff Waldstreicher (D-Montgomery), vice chair of the Judicial Proceedings Committee, asked Clippinger if a suit was filed by May 31 and amended after June 1, would the suit still be eligible for any possible payments from the current law.

“I believe the rules relating to the claims initially put in would hold,” said Clippinger, who added he’s a criminal attorney and not a civil lawyer.

David Lorenz, the Maryland director of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, also known as SNAP, attended Friday’s hearing but was not invited to testify, as the committee limited witnesses to keep the process moving along. He said that decreasing the cap amounts will also decrease the number of people who “would be otherwise willing to come and speak out against the abuse they endured,” at a time when what we need is “more accountability against these abusers.”

Sen. William G. Folden (R-Frederick) said Friday night the proposed bill seeks to do two things.

“I think what this bill is trying to do is find a balance between allowing those that have been victimized to have some sense of relief for their continued treatment,” he said. “But also have a balance that we’re already in a fiscal crisis to cause additional irrecoverable financial strains on the state.”