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HARTFORD, Conn. (Legal Newsline) – Plaintiffs who said a Connecticut pediatrician sexually abused them by inserting his finger in their anuses will not be able to sue his estate.
That’s because their claims are barred by the statute of limitations, the Connecticut Supreme Court ruled in an opinion officially published this month. The decision is bad news for seven former patients of Robert Rackliffe, who denied any wrongdoing before his death in 2015.
The conduct at issue occurred in the 1970s and 1980s. If it had been classified as sexual assault, abuse or exploitation, the plaintiffs would have had until they were 51 years old to bring suit.
But the state Supreme Court’s ruling found the allegations of negligence were governed instead by medical malpractice laws, which meant the plaintiffs only had until they were 24 to bring suit. Rackliffe’s legal team said what the plaintiffs alleged as sexual assault was simply what Rackliffe considered a routine examination.
The court said the legislation that provided an extension of time for abuse victims to file, known as P.A. 86-401, was passed so victims could seek compensation for intentional acts of sexual abuse.
“Although the legislature exhibited an intention to encompass, within the scope of the statute, negligence claims against third-party defendants whose carelessness amounted to a breach of a duty to protect a minor against harm arising from sexual misconduct, there is no indication anywhere in the legislative history that the extended limitation period was intended to apply in the absence of an act of intentional sexual abuse, exploitation or assault,” the court ruled.