State appeals court revives sexual abuse lawsuit against Grand Rapids church

The Michigan Court of Appeals ruled Tuesday that a childhood sexual abuse lawsuit against Grace Christian Reformed Church of Grand Rapids can proceed in Kent County Circuit Court.

The suit, which also specifically names the Christian Reformed Church in North America and a number of its related entities as defendants, had previously been dismissed by the Kent County Circuit Court in 2024 on the grounds that the statute of limitations on the claims at hand had expired. 

Marian Ippel, the plaintiff in the case, is suing over instances of alleged sexual abuse that occurred from 2006 to 2007, when she was three to four years old. At that time, Michigan law stated that, because she was a minor, she had until she turned 19 to file suit. 

The lawsuit was not filed until 2024, when Ippel was 21 — but in 2018, Michigan updated its statute of limitations for sexual abuse claims coming from those who were minors at the time to extend to when the individual is 28 years old. 

The church argued that the statute of limitations that was in place when the alleged sexual abuse occurred should be the one followed in this case, and the Kent County court agreed with that. However, because Ippel’s claim was still valid in 2018 when the law was changed — she was not yet 19 and past the original time bar — the appellate court ruled that the updated statute of limitations would apply to her case.

The appellate court’s decision, authored by Judge Andrew J. Lievense, reversed and remanded the previous decision, sending the case back to the circuit court to be heard further. 

The Kent County court had based its decision on the 2024 ruling in McLain v. Roman Catholic Diocese of Lansing, in which the court ruled that an alleged sexual abuse case from 1999 could not still be heard under the expanded statute of limitations. However, the appeals court noted the difference in the two cases, which is that Ippel’s claims had not yet expired at the time the 2018 reforms took effect. 

“Our client has fought for two years to have her day in court, and today’s ruling brings her one step closer to that,” Ippel’s lawyers, Megan Bonanni, Kevin Carlson and Danielle Canepa of Pitt McGehee Palmer Bonanni & Rivers, wrote in a press release following the ruling. “A person who had a timely claim does not lose it simply because the law changed while they were still a minor – that is what the 2018 reform was designed to protect, and the Court of Appeals recognized it. For survivors of childhood sexual abuse in Michigan, this decision confirms that the doors the legislature opened in 2018 cannot be quietly closed. We are proud to stand with Marian and will continue fighting until she gets the justice she deserves.” 

Grace Christian Reformed Church of Grand Rapids did not respond to a request for comment on the decision. However, at the time the lawsuit was filed in 2024, it told NBC News that it was actively investigating Ippel’s case “as we believe all abuse is unacceptable” and “these allegations are deeply troubling to Grace Church and the entire congregation.”