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Lawmaker: Catholic Church lobbied against Mass. bill that would end cap on nonprofit liability

Passers-by walk near the Cathedral of the Holy Cross, Monday, Aug. 5, 2024, in Boston, Mass. The cathedral is the mother church of the Archdiocese of Boston.
Steven Senne
/
AP
Passers-by walk near the Cathedral of the Holy Cross, Monday, Aug. 5, 2024, in Boston, Mass. The cathedral is the mother church of the Archdiocese of Boston.

Before ending formal sessions last month, the Massachusetts Legislature failed to act on a bill that would eliminate a cap on liability in child sexual abuse cases against nonprofit charities. The lawmaker who proposed the bill said the Catholic Church lobbied against it.

The bill, S.916, would have removed several barriers to recovering damages for child sexual abuse, according to state Sen. William Brownsberger. It would have eliminated the liability cap on child sexual abuse cases against public charities, as well as for similar cases against state and local governments. It also would have removed a feature of the state's sovereign immunity law that makes it difficult for people to sue for negligent supervision of employees.

The legislation targets Massachusetts' charitable immunity law, which caps damages against nonprofit charities at $20,000. (Medical malpractice lawsuits against a nonprofit provider are capped at $100,000.)

The cap on damages makes it difficult for abuse survivors to get a lawyer to take their case. Advocates say this prevents meaningful reparations for survivors who often face lifelong impacts on employment and relationships.

Brownsberger said representatives from the Catholic Church asked him not to pass his bill.

"Their representatives have come in and urged me not to, you know — have opposed it," he said in an interview Monday.

Brownsberger, a Belmont Democrat, said he wasn't sure if the opposition was from the Archdiocese of Boston or statewide.

"At the cardinal-level," he said, referencing Cardinal Seán Patrick O'Malley, the current but outgoing leader of the archdiocese. "That organizational level, I don't know that the cardinal has spoken on this himself."

O'Malley is president of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors and a top advisor to Pope Francis on clergy sexual abuse.

According to Brownsberger, church representatives said the legislation would hurt financially.

"They just say that this will be harmful to them," he said. "'Please don't do this for all the good works we do. You know, this is going to take money away from other purposes.' That's their position."

Brownsberger said accountability is needed.

"We should trust the judicial system to set reasonable verdicts as opposed to putting some artificial limitations on them," he said.

Neither the Archdiocese of Boston nor the Massachusetts Catholic Conference responded to a request to confirm the church's opposition.

The Joint Committee on the Judiciary reported the bill out favorably. It was then bundled into S. 2853, which combined several proposals regarding civil lawsuits over child sexual abuse.

On the evening of July 31, when the legislature was wrapping up its formal sessions, the Senate voted on one of the bills in the bundle, S.1038, which would eliminate the statute of limitation in civil child sexual abuse cases.

Current state law says if a victim is older than 53 and it’s been more than seven years since they realized the abuse harmed them, the statute of limitations applies — meaning it's usually too late to bring a lawsuit.

"I believe that someone should be able to bring an action at any time that they decide to after the age of 53," said Sen. Joan Lovely, a Salem Democrat who proposed the bill.

The vote in the Senate was unanimous.

"We did not have a roll call vote. But there was no objection," Lovely said.

Still, the House did not take up the bill.

Brownsberger said he does not believe his bill to eliminate the cap on liability for child sexual abuse cases would pass during upcoming informal sessions, when a single member can block a bill.

The senator said he plans to propose the bill again next year — for about the 5th time.

"We filed this several times and we're going to keep going and keep pushing," he said. "This time it's gone further than in the past because it has come out with a favorable from the Judiciary Committee."

Brownsberger said that could set a precedent and speed up consideration for the bill next year, providing "a better shot of getting it across the finish line."

Nancy Eve Cohen is a senior reporter focusing on Berkshire County. Earlier in her career she was NPR’s Midwest editor in Washington, D.C., managing editor of the Northeast Environmental Hub and recorded sound for TV networks on global assignments, including the war in Sarajevo and an interview with Fidel Castro.
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