Michigan Senate: Give sexual assault survivors more time to sue

• Michigan’s relatively short 10 year statute of limitations for sex abuse lawsuits would be lengthened for some under bills approved by Senate
• Adult survivors of childhood sexual abuse would have more opportunity to sue over decades-old crime under the legislation
• The bills have opponents, and House Speaker Matt Hall appears skeptical 

LANSING — Survivors of sexual abuse and assault would have much longer to sue their perpetrators under legislation that passed Michigan’s Democratic-led Senate on Tuesday with bipartisan support. 

The current statute of limitations is 10 years from the date of an assault or until a victim turns 28 years old, which advocates say is too short a window for young people who may not be able to grapple with the abuse until later in life.

The new limitation would extend the timeframe for alleged victims to file suit until they turn 42, or seven years after they become aware of the injury, whichever is later.

If the legislation passes the House and is signed into law by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, all survivors would also have one year to file suits, regardless of when their abuse occurred. Claimant damages would be capped at $1.5 million per defendant.

“We have survivors here in the state of Michigan who have not had access to justice for a long time,” Sen. Kevin Hertel, D-St. Clair Shores, told reporters after the vote. “These bills give more people a shot at actually being able to come forward, bring their case and seek justice for really heinous acts.”

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The legislation is the latest attempt to extend the statute of limitations in sexual assault cases. Michigan lawmakers last did so for both criminal and civil cases in 2018 following the conviction of Larry Nassar, a former Michigan State University doctor who sexually abused numerous young women and was sentenced to 40 to 175 years in federal prison.

A similar scandal subsequently unraveled at the University of Michigan and former sports doctor Richard Anderson.

The new legislation, which would again extend the statute of limitations in civil cases, was first introduced in 2023, when Democrats had trifecta control of state government. The proposal passed the Senate last term but never received a hearing in the House, and the chamber’s new Republican leader appeared skeptical of the bills when asked Tuesday.

“I think the idea of extending statutes of limitations for decades, or whatever, 10 years, that creates a lot of questions, a lot of legal problems,” said House Speaker Matt Hall, R-Richland Township. “You did see the Democrats move a little quickly, so it must have a lot of problems.”

Adult survivors of childhood sexual abuse offered emotional testimony before the Senate committee Civil Rights, Judiciary, and Public Safety earlier this month, calling the legislation a long-overdue reform to Michigan’s law.

The five-bill package passed the Senate with all Democrats voting in support, along with six Republicans. It includes:

• SB 257: Would give survivors either 10 years from the date of a crime, seven years after discovering the injury was assault or until the age of 42 — whichever comes latest — to sue the perpetrator of the crime. Prior victims could sue, regardless of day, within the law’s first year, but for no more than $1.5 million per defendant.
• SB 258: Removes the current 10-year statute of limitations for sex crime-related lawsuits.
• SB 259: Removes a ban on lawsuits against the state from lawsuits related to criminal sexual conduct.
• SB 260: Public schools and universities would no longer be immune from lawsuits if they could have known an employee committed sex crimes on the job.
• SB 261: Exempts those claims from time limits on certain court filings.

When the legislation was in committee earlier this month, The Michigan Catholic Conference, the Michigan Association of Non-Public Schools, the American Tort Reform Association and the American Civil Liberties Union all opposed extending the statute of limitations. 

Tom Hickson, of the Michigan Catholic Conference, argued in a letter to lawmakers that the legislation would “upend due process by allowing old claims in which evidence has been lost, and witnesses have died, to move forward,” claiming it is “impossible to defend” decades-old claims of sexual abuse.

An 2024 investigation by Attorney General Dana Nessel’s office found more than 56 people in the Roman Catholic diocese of Lansing suspected of engaging in sexual misconduct since 1950.

The Nassar and Anderson cases that involved the University of Michigan and Michigan State University, meanwhile, each resulted in a roughly $500 class-action settlement with survivors of the physicians’ abuse.

Still, critics like Gabriele Dresner of the ACLU have warned that the legislation “upends longstanding principles of fairness and legal certainty” while posing “substantial due process risks.”

The Ingham County judge who sentenced Nassar, Rosemarie Aquilina, told the committee on Civil Rights, Judiciary, and Public Safety there should be no statute of limitation for sexual assault.

One study found between 55% and 70% of child sexual abuse survivors delay disclosing the abuse until adulthood.

“You have moved the pendulum up, but it’s not enough,” Aquilina said in committee testimony. 

She also criticized the $1.5 million limit for prior survivors of sexual abuse who bring lawsuits once the legislation is enacted.

“Empower the victims fully, don’t cut them off,” she added.