Attorney Ben Crump to represent child sex abuse survivors suing Archdiocese of Baltimore
BALTIMORE -- A high-profile civil rights attorney has taken aim at the Archdiocese of Baltimore in the latest legal hit for the church embroiled in a sexual abuse scandal.
A new lawsuit is expected to be filed against the archdiocese by civil rights attorney Ben Crump and sexual abuse attorney Adam Slater on behalf of survivors of childhood sexual abuse perpetrated by members of the church.
The attorneys are expected to announce the lawsuit Tuesday, which will be filed when the Maryland Child Victims Act goes into effect on October 1.
The act, signed into law in April, eliminated the statute of limitations for survivors of child sex abuse in Maryland to sue their abusers.
Survivors of child abuse, particularly those who experienced abuse within the Baltimore Catholic Church, had been pushing lawmakers to pass the act for decades.
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The Maryland Attorney General's Office released a 456-page report this year on an investigation that details clergy, teachers, seminarians and deacons within the Archdiocese who allegedly assaulted more than 600 children going back to the 1940s.
In the complaints to be filed, the attorneys argue the archdiocese failed to take action to prevent rampant sexual abuse it was aware of.
Crump and Slater said they are also advocating for legislation like Maryland's that would remove the statute of limitations for child sexual abuse across the country.