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Section 5-117 of the Maryland Annotated Code was signed into law in May of 2003. The statute is effective October 1, 2003.
Civil damage suits for persons who suffered abuse as minors may be brought within 7 years of the date of reaching their age of majority. The statute specifically provides, however, that it shall not be used to revive any cases that were barred prior to the passage of the new limitation period.
Link to text of bill (may be temporary).
As of 1997, courts have refused to recognize a delayed discovery rule. In Doe v. Archdiocese of Washington, 114 Md.App. 169, 689 A.2d 634 (Md.App. 1997) the court held (1) child sexual abuse victim's cause of action against priests accrued, for statute of limitations purposes, upon date he attained majority, regardless of when he first appreciated wrongfulness of priests' alleged actions; (2) plaintiff's alleged failure to appreciate wrongfulness of priests' alleged misconduct did not rise to level of "mental incompetence," of kind sufficient to toll statute of limitations); Doe v. Maskell, 342 Md. 684, 679 A.2d 1087 (1996) cert. denied 117 S. Ct. 770 (1997) (refusing to apply insanity tolling to repressed memory).
Resources:
Maryland Coalition Against Sexual Assault - Includes reports of Legislative Activity
Maryland Statutes
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