Moore rejects call for veto as wave of sex abuse cases head to the courthouse

Yahoo

15-04-2025

Attorney Robert K. Jenner holds a copy of House Bill 1378, passed last week, that reduces the financial awards for victims of institutional child sex abuse. Jenner called on Gov. Wes Moore to veto the bill, but the governor's office said he will sign it in the coming weeks. (Photo by Bryan P. Sears/Maryland Matters)
A group of lawyers is urging Gov. Wes Moore (D) to veto legislation that reduces the financial awards to victims of institutional abuse — but also rushing other claims to court before a May 31 deadline in case he signs it.
The call for a veto came as those same attorneys announced nearly two dozen new lawsuits Monday against one Catholic high school in Baltimore County. Robert K. Jenner, managing partner at Baltimore-based Jenner Law, called on Moore to reject the bill that was rushed through the final days of the 2025 Maryland General Assembly session.
'It breaks the faith with the thousands of survivors who have come forward believing that the state of Maryland was on their side and ready to hold perpetrators accountable,' said Jenner, one of roughly a half-dozen attorneys who spoke during a news conference at his firm's Baltimore office.
But a Moore spokesperson said Monday that while the governor 'acknowledges the trauma survivors of child sexual assault have endured and the difficult and unprecedented circumstances surrounding this legislation,' a veto is off the table.
'The General Assembly has carefully crafted legislation that will continue to allow the survivors to seek justice while preserving the long-term fiscal stability of the state,' the spokesperson said in an emai. 'The governor will sign this legislation.'
House Bill 1378 passed both the House and Senate by veto-proof majorities.
While the attorneys decried the passage of House Bill 1378 , they said they are not waiting for Moore to veto the bill. The attorneys — part of a coalition calling themselves the Calvert Hall Lawyers Working Group — announced roughly two dozen new lawsuits against Towson-based Calvert Hall College High School.
Emily C. Malarkey, a partner at Baltimore-based Bekman, Marder, Hopper, Malarkey & Perlin, said the new lawsuits represent what could potentially be a rush to file before the new law — with its lower caps on damages — takes effect.
'We're working 24/7, for the next six weeks to get all our clients' cases filed,' Malarkey said in an interview. 'If we wait until June 1, their cap is going to drop in half, and we're not going to do that to them. We're going to work our butts off to get it done.'
Jenner praised the 2023 law, sponsored by Del. C.T. Wilson (D-Charles) as well as a Supreme Court of Maryland ruling this year that held the law was constitutional. Wilson also sponsored HB1378, out of concern that potential settlements under the 2023 law could bust the state budget. It's legislation that Jenner and other attorneys opposed.
'Finally, we thought we had a path to justice but here we are. A landmark victory for survivors that we thought ended the question has now been gutted. But this isn't about budget math. This is about moral clarity. This is about a promise that the state of Maryland made and is now poised to break,' Jenner said.
The 2025 bill as passed 'slashes the amount survivors can recover by jury, verdict or by settlement, and it limits them to a single payment when they have been abused several times, multiple times by the same perpetrator,' he said.
Malarkey's firm on Monday filed a lawsuit on behalf of 14 clients against Towson-based Calvert Hall College High School. The lawsuit also names as defendants the Brothers of the Christian Schools, District of Eastern North America, and the Christian Brothers of Frederick. Both entities were responsible for managing and operating Calvert Hall.
The 45-page filing includes allegations of abuse against four members of the clergy — Brother Geoffrey Xavier Langan and the Revs. Laurence Brett, Jerome Toohey and Francis LeFevre. All four were named in a 463-page report on child sexual abuse in the Archdiocese of Baltimore released in 2023 by the Office of the Attorney General.
Stephen E. Arnold, a lay science instructor at Calvert Hall is also named as an abuser in the lawsuit filed Monday.
The claims filed Monday would come in under the current law, which said victims of abuse in private institutions could file a lawsuit at any time, and capped damages at $1.5 million per 'occurrence' — a term over which plaintiff's attorneys and some lawmakers disagree. For state and local government entities, the cap was set at $890,000 per occurrence.
Assuming Moore makes good on his promise to sign HB1378 into law, claims filed after June 1 would be capped at $700,000 for private institutions and $400,000 for public institutions The changes came after legislative analysts warned of the potential 'enormous liability' stemming from claims against state institutions.
Those analysts said in January that there could be as many as 3,500 claims. And while they did not provide a potential price tag, conservative estimates initially set the amount at about $3.1 billion — an amount roughly equal to the structural budget deficit.
The actual amount of potential liability is not fully known.
The Child Victim's Act, passed in 2023, was the result of a decade of effort to allow victims — who were children at the time they were assaulted — to file lawsuits that were otherwise time-barred. At the time, most of the focus was on survivors of abuse who made allegations against the Catholic Church.
The bill was praised at the time by Moore and Attorney General Anthony Brown (D).
But the potential for liabilities grew as attorneys for those with claims argued that 'per occurrence' meant each individual instance of sexual assault. Others argued for a more conservative definition that would combine assaults based on other factors. The result would be a reduction of the total amount a jury could potentially award.
The Archdiocese of Baltimore quickly sought bankruptcy protection before the law could take effect in October 2023.
At the same time, cases against the state were also making their way to the courthouse. One group of attorneys earlier this year told Maryland Matters they were representing roughly 4,500 claimants. If each one had just one claim of abuse and received the maximum award, the potential liability to the state is an estimated $4 billion.
'I could have never comprehended 4,500 claimants, and it's an open door with another 1,500 in the hopper,' Wilson said in an interview earlier this year. He wondered aloud about 'how much are taxpayers going to be on the hook for this?'
Those attorneys said many clients have more than one allegation of abuse. They also said that they have been in settlement discussions with the attorney general's office. Those attorneys declined to provide details on the amount they were seeking, but said it was less than even what legislative analysts hinted at in January.
The Maryland attorneys are not the first to move cases to the courthouse. Levy Konigsberg, a New York-based law firm, filed lawsuits on behalf of 221 men and women the day after Maryland lawmakers adjourned the 2025 legislative session. All of the cases focus on allegations of sexual abuse at 15 state juvenile detention facilities.
The lawsuits bring the number of claims to roughly 2,000, according to the firm. Levy Konigsberg represents about 1,000 people who allege they were sexually abused while in state custody.
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