XPost: alt.fan.rush-limbaugh, alt.politics.usa, talk.politics.guns
XPost: az.general

In article <XnsAC4D77E02B5D6446@46.165.242.91>
RichA forger asshole <rander3127@gmail.com> wrote:

Policial correctness has taken over the country

Arizona victims of long-ago child sex abuse can proceed with
lawsuits against groups like the Boy Scouts of America following
a decision by the state Supreme Court that rejected claims that
a 2019 state law extending victims' right to sue was
unconstitutional.

Arizona is among many states that have reacted to child sex
abuse in recent years by allowing victims of even decades-old
abuse to sue groups that didn't protect them from predators.
That has led to lawsuits against the Roman Catholic Church,
Scouts and others.

The high court without comment last week rejected appeals by Big
Brothers Big Sisters of America and its affiliates in central
and southern Arizona of lower court rulings that found the 2019
law extending the statute of limitations was constitutional.

The rulings appear to be the first to directly address whether
the Arizona law is legal, according to an attorney who
represents victims in the two cases the high court considered.

Those lawsuits allege that the group that connects youth called
'Littles" with adult mentors known as “Bigs” did not properly
oversee the Bigs. The cases involved two men who abused boys,
one in 1983 and one in the 1970s, Phoenix attorney Robert Pastor
said Thursday. The men are not defendants.

Child USA, a national group that pushes for so-called “revival”
laws that allow old cases to be pursued in court, urged the high
court to uphold the trial court rulings. It noted Arizona was
among more than 30 states enacting legislation since 2002
allowing such lawsuits, most in recent years.

“A ruling against (the law's) revival window would have negative
ramifications for all the child sexual abuse survivors
throughout Arizona who are embracing the window in pursuit of
long overdue justice,” the group's filing said.

The Utah Supreme Court in 2020 threw out its revival law, but
other states have upheld them, including the Connecticut Supreme
Court in 2015 in a case involving a Roman Catholic priest.

Arizona's high court considered appeals from decisions by two
Maricopa County Superior Court judges who rejected Big Brothers
Big Sisters' arguments that the Legislature violated its due
process rights by extending the statute of limitations.

The judges said in rulings issued last year that courts have
long held that changing a statute of limitation is within the
rights of legislatures.

“The Revival Law does not violate the due process clauses of
either Arizona’s Constitution or the United States
Constitution,” Judge Randall Warner wrote in his ruling. A
second judge made a similar decision.

The lawsuits were put on hold while the group appealed, but now
can proceed.

Big Brothers Big Sisters of America spokeswoman Dvon Williams
said the group does not comment on litigation. The CEO of the
Southern Arizona chapter, Marie Logan, declined to comment on
the suits, and calls and emails to the affiliate in Phoenix were
not immediately returned.

Arizona's 2019 law provided a one-time window for victims of
long-ago child sex abuse to sue beyond the existing two-year
statute of limitations that began once they turned 18. That
window closed at the end of 2020. It also created a much longer
time for more recent victims to sue after they turn 18, allowing
lawsuits to be filed up to age 30.

The lawmaker who pushed the law said he was pleased with the
court rulings.

“I never had any concerns that it wasn’t constitutional,” said
Republican state Sen. Paul Boyer, whose insistence on the law
held up the state budget in 2019. “I would have loved the window
to have been open longer and I would have loved to have it
higher than age 30, but it was a compromise.”

Pastor, the attorney who represents the two unidentified men
suing over abuse by their “Bigs,” said he'll now be able to find
out how much Big Brothers Big Sisters knew about child predators
who he says used their organization to groom and victimize
children.

He said groups like Big Brothers Big Sisters provide vitally
needed support for children, but must be vigilant about keeping
predators from using them to find victims.

“What we know as litigators advocating for survivors is that
perpetrators will seek out volunteer opportunities in these
organizations, because perpetrators need access to children,"
Pastor said.

In addition to the cases Pastor is pursuing against Big Brothers
Big Sisters, lawsuits have been filed in Arizona against the Boy
Scouts of America, the Roman Catholic Church, the state
Department of Child Safety and schools and universities, he said.

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