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Consumer Law

Judge Rules That a Class Action Lawsuit Against the Archdiocese of Washington Can Proceed

A Prince George’s County Circuit Court judge ruled a class action lawsuit against the Archdiocese of Washington can proceed Wednesday, dismissing a challenge brought by the church to the Maryland law underpinning the case.

Attorneys for the archdiocese filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit on the grounds the state’s Child Victims Act – a 2023 law that allows child abuse survivors to file civil claims regardless of when the abuse happened – is unconstitutional. In court Wednesday, the attorneys argued the Archdiocese is protected from civil lawsuits because of a 2017 Maryland law they say granted them “vested rights” to be free from liability as non-perpetrator defendants.

But attorneys for the three men who brought the class action lawsuit say the Maryland legislature was within its right to amend earlier laws when it passed the Child Victims Act last year.

Read the source article at NBC4 Washington

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