Supreme Court of Colorado ruled legislation giving survivors of childhood sexual assault access to the courts is unconstitutional

The Supreme Court of Colorado has ruled that legislation giving survivors of childhood sexual assault access to the courts is unconstitutional. This horrifying ruling is a reminder that Maryland's Child Victims Act is far from safe.

No. 22SC824, Aurora Public Schools v. A.S. - Statutes - Constitutional Law Retroactivity - Statutes of Limitation.

The supreme court holds that the Child Sexual Abuse Accountability Act (CSAAA) violates the constitutional prohibition on retrospective legislation, Colo. Const. art. II, section 11, as applied to conduct that predates the Act and for which any previously available claims would be time-barred. First, the court rejects the plaintiffs' objections to the school district's standing and concludes it has subject matter jurisdiction to review the constitutional challenge to the CSAAA. Turning to the merits, the court holds that, to the extent a statute creates a new cause of action that permits parties to bring claims for which any previously available cause of action would be time-barred, the statute creates a new obligation and attaches a new disability to past transactions, thereby violating Colorado's constitutional prohibition on retrospective legislation.

Here, because the plaintiffs’ previously available claims for sexual misconduct were time-barred at the time they brought suit, the Act’s creation of a new cause of action for those claims was unconstitutional. The court therefore affirms the district court’s order granting the defendants’ motions to dismiss.