Deadline Set For Sex Abuse Lawsuits Against Baltimore Archdiocese

BALTIMORE, MD — Survivors of clergy sexual abuse have until May 31 to file claims against the Archdiocese of Baltimore, attorneys and a judge decided Monday.

A bankruptcy judge, as well as attorneys for both the archdiocese and survivors, verbally agreed to the deadline in federal court in Baltimore, the Baltimore Banner reported. Judge Michelle Harner was expected to formally set the deadline following the hearing, the report said.

According to the Banner, attorneys spent weeks negotiating a date.

At least 600 people are expected to file claims against the church after the Maryland Child Victims Act went into effect on Oct. 1, according to the Banner. The bill lifted the statute of limitations that prohibited victims of sexual abuse from suing their abusers or the institutions that employed them after a specific amount of time had passed.

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Just before the law was enacted, the Archdiocese of Baltimore filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in anticipation of a wave of lawsuits.

The bankruptcy filing came three days after Maryland Attorney General Anthony Brown released a substantially unredacted version of a 463-page grand jury report detailing allegations of sexual abuse within the Archdiocese of Baltimore and the cover-up of that abuse by Catholic church leadership.

The report detailed "a long history of widespread abuse and systemic cover-up by clergy" and identified nearly 160 former and current priests, as well as other members of the church who are accused of sexually abusing more than 600 children over eight decades.

Lawsuits against the archdiocese itself immediately stopped when the organization filed for bankruptcy. Victims must now take their claims to bankruptcy court.

The Archdiocese of Washington in November 2023 became the first entity to legally challenge the new Maryland law that removes the statute of limitations for lawsuits regarding child sex abuse. The challenge by the archdiocese — which includes Montgomery, Prince George's, Charles, Calvert and St. Mary's counties in Maryland, along with the District of Columbia — seeks to dismiss two lawsuits filed in Montgomery and Prince George's counties by survivors of sexual abuse, the Washington Post reported.

The motion to dismiss the cases claims the Maryland Child Victims Act violates the state constitution by allowing previously barred claims to be revived, according to the Post.

"A statute of 'repose,' by its very nature, cannot be retroactively 'repealed,' and the legislature's effort to do so was a clear violation of the due process clause and takings clause of the Maryland Constitution," lawyers for the Archdiocese of Washington wrote in a filing obtained by the Baltimore Sun.