Isn’t this unfair to agencies, institutions and organizations to be sued now for events that happened decades ago?
No. If the responsible organization did not have notice, (was not aware that the employee had previously molested a child, or had some type of information that would have raised concerns that he or she might abuse a child) the agency or organization cannot be held liable. The only time that an institution can be held liable is if they knew the predator had a history and did not take appropriate action. In other words the agency is not liable if they didn’t know about the abuse and had no way of knowing. A requirement for bringing the civil action is that the party had notice of the danger the predator posed. If they didn’t and couldn’t have had notice they are not liable.
