DENVER — A ruling issued by the Colorado Supreme Court states the court opposes a law passed in 2021 that would allow child sex abuse survivors to sue their abusers and their respective institutions, striking down the law on Tuesday.
The Child Sexual Abuse Accountability Act (CSAAA) would have provided survivors from January 1, 1960, to January 1, 2022, a three-year period to sue their alleged abusers and a related "organization that operates or manages a youth-related activity or program."
The court ruled that the CSAAA "violates the [state] constitutional prohibition on retrospective legislation." The court also cited the United States Constitution on ex post facto laws.
Supreme Court Justice Monica Márquez delivered the court's opinion on Tuesday, stating she and her fellow justices "understand" the desire to "hold abusers and their enablers accountable," but that this accountability must be gained through "constitutional means."
The case in question by the court was "Aurora Public Schools (APS) v. Angelica Saupe (A.S.)," previously known as Angelica Synovic, according to Associated Press. In the suit, Saupe claims David James O'Neill, a Rangeview High School coach, and administrator, sexually assaulted her when she was a teenager between 2001 and 2005.
Saupe also claims she filed a police report in Aurora in 2007 when she began to “fully understand the inappropriate nature of the sexual exploitation by O’Neill." She said she was told by police that the statute of limitations had passed.
Earlier this year, Saupe filed against both O'Neill and APS.
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