Wyoming Legislature to consider giving sex abuse victims more time to file lawsuits

Mirroring a move made in several other states, the Wyoming Legislature will consider extending the statute of limitations for lawsuits filed by the victims of child sexual abuse.

The current statute states that a civil action must be brought by the time the victim is 26 or within three years of the “discovery” of the abuse. The proposal, which has support from the Joint Judiciary Committee, would extend that to the victim’s 53rd birthday. The legislation is somewhat modeled after a recent law passed in Utah, which retroactively opened the statute of limitations for past victims and removed it altogether for any cases of abuse in the coming years.

Wyoming already has no statute of limitations on the criminal prosecution for those accused of sexual abuse.

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