Adults abused as children decades ago will be able to sue over the mistreatment under a Louisiana Supreme Court ruling released Wednesday. 

Justices overturned their decision from March that declared a “lookback window” for lawsuits over older child abuse allegations unconstitutional. Now such cases can move forward.

The new ruling likely creates greater liability for the Catholic Church and other organizations accused of systemic child exploitation over decades. It could also affect individual schools, summer camps and other institutions that tolerated misconduct toward minors.

“I am thankful that the Court saw the error in its original opinion and was willing to reconsider this matter and find the Lookback Window to be constitutional,” Frank Lamothe, a New Orleans attorney who represents child abuse survivors in lawsuits against the Catholic Church, said in a written statement. “This is a victory for the survivors of child sex abuse.”

The court’s change of heart is also a political victory for Attorney General Liz Murrill, who put the justices under public pressure to reconsider the initial ruling. In April, she asked for a rehearing on the issue.

“These child victims of sexual abuse deserve their day in court,” Murrill said in a written statement  Wednesday after the new ruling. “It’s very rare for the Supreme Court to grant rehearing and reverse itself. I’m grateful to the Court for giving such careful attention to an issue that is so deeply troubling and personal for so many victims of abuse.” 

A case brought against the Catholic Diocese of Lafayette led to the justices’ ruling. A group of plaintiffs sued over alleged abuse at the hands of a priest in the 1970s. The diocese maintained the accusations were too old to be pursued. 

The Legislature voted in 2021 to let adult survivors of child abuse file claims for damages for three years — from June 14, 2021 to June 14, 2024 — if the deadline to do so had previously expired. 

This was expected to allow people abused prior to the early 1990s, but who had never come forward with a legal challenge, to do so.

The Lafayette diocese pushed back on the law, saying legislators never intended to allow old allegations dating back to the 1970s to be examined. They also argued allowing older accusations to come forward would be a violation of due process, because witnesses and documents related to abuse claims might longer be available. 

The Legislature disagreed. It unanimously passed a clarifying law in 2022, stating its intent to allow for civil lawsuits over decades-old abuse. Earlier this year, lawmakers also unanimously approved a resolution, sent to each Supreme Court justice, restating their desire to see older abuse allegations be brought forward in court.

In the ruling released Wednesday, justices writing for the majority acknowledged as much.

“[T]he conclusion is unassailable: the legislature intended retroactive application of the law,” Chief Justice John Weimer said in his opinion. 

Weimer also agreed with the lawmakers’ reasoning for establishing a three-year lookback period. Many victims take years to come to terms with their mistreatment as youth.

“Child sexual abuse is a unique tort in which the average victim does not come forward until they are 52 years old,” Weimer wrote. “For many victims of child sexual abuse, the revival provision represents their first and only opportunity to bring suit. Providing that opportunity to those victims is a legitimate legislative purpose.”

Justices Weimer, John Crain and Jay McCallum voted in favor of upholding the lookback window twice, in March and this week. Justices Scott Crichton and Piper Griffin reversed themselves, initially throwing out the lookback period in March but voting to reinstate it this week. 

Justices James Genovese and Jeff Hughes opposed the lookback window both times, saying the Legislature was overstepping its bounds by passing the law.

“I am very concerned about this majority ruling on rehearing granting unbridled authority to the legislature to enact legislation which supersedes and tramples our constitution,” Genovese wrote.

The confusion over the 2021 law prompted the Legislature to make yet another legal change this year. Last month, they unanimously passed an extension to the lookback window, which will allow abuse survivors to file lawsuits until June 14, 2027. 

Advocates for child abuse victims said some people have held back on filing lawsuits while the court deliberated whether the lookback period would stand.

NEW ORLEANS (OSV News) — In a 5-2 ruling June 12, the Louisiana Supreme Court reversed its earlier decision to scrap a “look back law” for abuse survivors and declared it to be constitutional.

The move could have a profound impact on several Catholic dioceses in the state that are already grappling with significant legal settlements and ongoing investigations.

On May 10, the Louisiana Supreme Court granted a rehearing on a March ruling that had overturned a “look back law” passed in 2021 and amended in 2022, which gave victims of child sexual abuse until June 14 of this year to file civil claims regardless of when the alleged abuse occurred. The Louisiana Legislature June 3 approved a Senate bill to extend the period another three years, until June 14, 2027.

The court’s 4-3 March ruling had found that law was at odds with the state constitution’s due process, prompting dismay from abuse survivors and advocates, and a filing for a rehearing from state attorney general Liz Murrill.

The high court ruled that its original decree declaring the revival provision of the “look back law” to be unconstitutional “is vacated.”

“Given Louisiana’s legitimate interest in protecting its citizens who were sexually abused as minors and in providing them with the ability to seek redress in the courts, and the narrowly tailored nature of the relief provided … it is clear that defendants have failed to satisfy the ‘heavy burden’ of proving the unconstitutionality of the revival provision,” said Chief Justice John Weimer writing for the majority.

The ruling noted the legislation revived, “for a short period of time … a narrow category of tort victims.” The revival provision at issue “has been demonstrated to have a substantial relationship to public safety, morals and welfare,” Weimer wrote.

“The resolution here will not ‘open the floodgates’ of unrestrained legislative action, as every legislative action must comport with due process,” he continued. “This case is strictly limited to its facts, examining whether a singular legislative act, addressing a particular systemic societal problem, hidden from the public, and impacting children and touching on the public safety, morals and welfare, comports with due process.

“Each case must be tested on its own unique circumstances. In virtually every case this court is called on to resolve, each party predicts catastrophe and dire consequences should the opposing party prevail.”

The case argued before the court that resulted in this ruling was against the Diocese of Lafayette, Louisiana, and St. Martin de Tours Catholic Church in St. Martinville, Louisiana. The plaintiffs — Douglas Bienvenu and several other complainants — filed suit in 2018 alleging they were sexually abused between 1971 and 1979 by Father Kenneth Morvant while they were altar servers at the parish. According to the plaintiffs, Father Morvant had plied the boys — who then ranged in age from 8 to 14 — with alcohol and gifts during “sleepovers” at the rectory before molesting them.

Father Morvant died in 2003 at age 72, having served at several Diocese of Lafayette parishes over some four decades. He is buried on the grounds of St. Martin de Tours.

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Officially reversing a controversial March ruling, Louisiana’s highest court Wednesday gave childhood victims of sexual abuse a renewed opportunity to file damage lawsuits.

The state Supreme Court’s 5-2 ruling Wednesday upholds a so-called look-back law that was passed in 2021 and amended in 2022. The law gave victims of past abuse, whose deadlines for filing civil lawsuits had expired, renewed opportunities to file lawsuits. The original legislation set a deadline of June 14 of this year. That deadline was later extended until June 2027.

Wednesday’s move had been expected. The court had ruled 4-3 in March that the law couldn’t stand because it conflicted with due process rights in the state constitution. But the court agreed last month to reconsider the case.

Justices Scott Crichton and Piper Griffin, part of the majority in March, joined justices joined Chief Justice John Weimer and justices Jay McCallum and William Crain to revive the law.

“For many victims of child sexual abuse, the revival provision represents their first and only opportunity to bring suit,” Weimer wrote in the new ruling. “Providing that opportunity to those victims is a legitimate legislative purpose.”

Justices James Genovese and Jefferson Hughes dissented. Genovese wrote that the new ruling “obliterates” decades of precedent and “elevates a legislative act over a constitutional right.”

The ruling comes as the Catholic Church continues to deal with the ramifications of a decades-old sex scandal. The ruling arose from a case filed against the Catholic Diocese of Lafayette by plaintiffs who said they were molested by a priest in the 1970s while they ranged in age from 8 to 14, according to the Supreme Court record.

Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill hailed the court’s reversal, as did advocates for abuse victims.

“We are elated that victims of sexual abuse who have been time barred from justice will have their day in court,” Mike McDonnell, of the advocacy group Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, said in an emailed statement.