State Legislature Extends Statute of Limitation For Sexual-Violence Survivors

The Michigan legislature is drafting a nine-bill “Access to Justice” package so people who have experienced sexual violence can have more time to seek justice, the Detroit News reported late yesterday.

The bill package “would create a two-year ‘revival window’ retroactively allowing any sexual assault victim to file a civil lawsuit even if the legal window for filing a claim has already expired.

The package would also “repeal permanently for future civil cases the statute of limitations for individuals up to the age of 52 — where it had previously exempted those up to the age of 28 — to reflect the age at which individuals usually report a sexual assault suffered while a minor. The bills also would eliminate the civil statute of limitations where there was a criminal conviction in the individual’s case,” the Detroit News said.

So far, the bill has bipartisan support, with Republican State Senator John Damoose, who represents Harbor Springs, writing one of the bills.

The bills stem from the Larry Nassar sexual abuse scandal at Michigan State University.

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Andrea Plaid

Andrea Plaid’s work on race, gender, sex, and sexuality has appeared at Newsweek.com, Vogue.com, The Guardian, In These Times, MadameNoire, HelloBeautiful and Rewire. Her commentary has appeared on MSNBC, Chicago Tribune, and Washington Post. She is writing the forthcoming stylebook, Penning with the People, for The Feminist Wire/University of Arizona Press’ book series. Originally from Toledo, Ohio, Andrea now lives in Corktown.

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