Murphy will sign law Monday giving N.J. sexual abuse victims far more time to sue

Gov. Phil Murphy will sign the broadest law in the nation Monday that will vastly expand the amount of time victims of sexual assault will be allowed to bring a lawsuit against predators and the nonprofit organizations that employed them.

Murphy has hinted he generally supports expanding New Jersey’s two-year statute of limitations for civil lawsuits, but had not said affirmatively he would sign the bill the state Legislature approved in March.

State Sen. Joseph Vitale, D-Middlesex, the bill’s prime sponsor, said he received confirmation Murphy was signing the bill on Monday, the last day he had to act before the law took effect automatically.

When Vitale said he learned there would be no signing ceremony, as major pieces of legislation often receive, he decided to host his own event on Monday afternoon.

“It’s altogether appropriate to celebrate what is the strongest law in the nation — to provide justice to victims of rape and sexual assault and to expose predators that are still abusing children,” Vitale said.

Vitale said he and prime state Assembly sponsor Annette Quijano, D-Union, will speak alongside Mark Crawford, director of the New Jersey chapter of Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, Patricia Teffenhart, executive director of the New Jersey Coalition Against Sexual Assault, and Marci Hamilton, CEO and Academic Director of CHILDUSA, a research and advocacy organization.

“I always assumed this would be a public event,” Vitale said of the bill signing. “Sexual assault ranks number two behind homi...

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Showing 1 comment

  • Daniel "Buddy" Robson
    commented 2019-05-14 04:47:19 -0500
    It’s a shame that Maryland could not see fit to do the same. Seems like the Church’s lobbying outreach still controls key legislators. It’s past time for the neanderthals to be sent to pasture…

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