DENVER (Legal Newsline) - The Colorado Supreme Court has declared a 2021 law that allowed certain victims of child sexual abuse a chance to file lawsuits unconstitutional.
That's because it violates a prohibition from the state's constitution on "retrospective legislation," the court ruled in a June 20 decision regarding the Child Sexual Abuse Accountability Act. That law allowed victims whose cases were previously past the statute of limitations to file them anyway.
The case drew significant interest from outside groups, with the American Tort Reform Association, Colorado Civil Justice League, Colorado Chamber of Commerce teaming with insurance companies for an amicus brief in support of striking the law.
Others that filed briefs in support of it included the Colorado Trial Lawyers Association, the national trial lawyer group (American Association for Justice), the Colorado legislature and Child USA.
The bill said victims of child sexual abuse delay disclosure well into adulthood, allowing defendants to defeat their claims on timeliness grounds.
The CSAAA allowed victims who were abused as far back as 1960 to bring claims that were time-barred as of Jan. 1, 2022, within three years, but the Colorado Supreme Court called it "unconstitutional retrospective legislation."
"We certainly understand the General Assembly's desire to right the wrongs of past decades by permitting such victims to hold abusers and their enablers accountable," the decision says.
"But the General Assembly may accomplish its ends only through constitutional means. The retrospectivity clause of the Colorado Constitution prohibits retroactive legislation that creates a new obligation, imposes a new duty, or attaches a new disability with respect to past transactions or considerations."
The unanimous ruling affirmed Aurora Public Schools' motion to dismiss in the trial court.