Bishop Larry Silva expressed disappointment at the passing of a law that gives victims of child sexual abuse until April 24, 2016, to file civil lawsuits for cases where the statute of limitations had run out.
Gov. Neil Abercrombie on June 20 signed into law SB 2687, a bill that the Diocese of Honolulu had strongly opposed, which added two more years to a two-year window opened in 2012 by a previous law during which Hawaii child sex abuse victims can sue their abusers and the organizations responsible for supervising them no matter how long ago the incidents took place.
“I am disappointed that the legislators and the governor have decided to lift the statute of limitations for a second two-year period,” the bishop told the Hawaii Catholic Herald in an email message. “The myth is that this will make children safer now, when in fact many of the alleged perpetrators are dead.”
“The church is always concerned about minors who suffer sexual abuse, especially when the perpetrator is a clergyman, a religious or a church worker,” Bishop Silva said. “We have been very diligent to do all we humanly can to see that such a thing never happens again.”
The state legislature voted overwhelmingly in favor of SB 2687. The argument in support of the bill cited the heinous nature of child sex abuse and the fact that its severe, lasting and hidden psychological injuries could remain unacknowledged for years beyond the statute of limitations.
Before these two laws, the statute of limitations, the time limit for filing a lawsuit, had been set for two years after the plaintiff turned 18, although the courts allowed exceptions to that rule.
Arguing against SB 2687, Walter Yoshimitsu, director of the Hawaii Catholic Conference, the public policy arm of the Diocese of Honolulu, said in testimony earlier this year that “because of the lapse of time, many institutions potentially subject to suit under this bill no longer have the ability to meaningfully defend themselves from such claims.”
Explaining further, the bishop said, “The law really holds the institution which is understood to have employed or supervised the alleged perpetrator accountable for what its leaders may or may not have known or done a generation or two ago. Over the years potential witnesses die, their memories fade, and documentation — if it exists — is often no longer available.”
Although the Catholic Church is not specifically mentioned in the new laws, the common perception is that the church’s recent clergy sex abuse scandal provided an impetus for the legislation, which is why the diocese spoke out loudly against it.
And in fact, the rescinding of the statute of limitations from 2012 to 2014 resulted in 61 alleged victims coming forward seeking compensation from the Diocese of Honolulu. Most of the alleged incidents date back to the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s.
Bishop Silva said that church rules call for the disciplining of all clergy sex abusers, no matter how old the incident.
“In the case of a clergyman whose offense is proven credible, there is no statute of limitations. He is removed from ministry permanently, no matter when the abuse occurred,” he said.
The 2012 law had exempted the state of Hawaii and its public entities, such as schools and prisons, from lawsuits. That exemption was removed in SB 2687.
The bishop said that change makes the present law “more fair than the previous law” but still not right.
“The same principles of justice that created statutes of limitations are now also equally discarded for public and private institutions,” he said.
