Isn the Actual Purpose of the Bill to Facilitate Lawsuits Against Catholic Institutions?
Yes. When she announced her sponsorship for HB 5473, Rep. Beth Bye (D- Avon, Farmington, West Hartford) made it clear that her intention was to revive time-barred claims arising from abuse by Dr. George Reardon. Because Dr. Reardon is dead, claims against him are actually being filed against St. Francis Hospital and the Archdiocese of Hartford, both Catholic institutions. During the March 17 Judiciary Committee hearing, every member of the panel of “experts” supporting the Bill were lawyers bringing Reardon-related claims against these two Catholic institutions. Every time such a bill has passed, it has resulted in flood of claims being filed against Catholic institutions. There are only three instances when such a law was passed. When Connecticut retroactively extended its statute of limitation to 30 years (after the age of majority) in 2002, 81 claims were promptly filed against Catholic institutions. When California opened a one-year “window” retroactively reviving time-barred claim
