Doesn the Bill Provide Equal Opportunity for Child Abuse Victims To Sue Government and Non-Government Defendants for Damages?
No. The Bill presently contains a Section 2 that only pretends to level the playing field. Even as presently worded, the Bill does not permit a direct right of action against the State and it does not permit any action against other government entities like towns, school boards, or public schools. It leaves the doctrine called sovereign immunity that bars such suits against most public schools and local government entities in place. Thus, a student victimized by a teacher in a Catholic school can sue the school for damages while a student suffering an identical assault in a public school cannot. HB 5473 leaves this unfairness unaddressed.
