Key part of law to help child sex abuse survivors to expire

ATLANTA — After suffering through sexual abuse for a decade starting when she was 5, a Georgia woman said she was too emotionally wrecked to sue her alleged abuser until it was too late — state law says victims must file lawsuits seeking damages before they turn 23.

She got another chance when legislators in 2015 passed the Hidden Predator Act, which provided a two-year window during which victims older than that could sue their alleged abusers.

Now 28, the woman, identified in court documents only as H.M., filed a suit against her abuser in March. The case is in progress.

Other survivors may not get the same chance: The two-year window opened by the Hidden Predator Act, which went into effect July 1, 2015, expires Saturday, at which point Georgia will return to being one of the “worst five states in the country” for providing recourse for victims of childhood sex abuse, along with Alabama, Michigan, Mississippi and New York, said Marci Hamilton, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania and CEO of Child USA.

The 2015 law also provided a “discovery rule” that allows any victim of childhood sexual abuse suffered after July 1, 2015, to pursue civil action after age 23 if the lawsuit is brought within two years from the date when the victim knew or had reason to know of the abuse.

The lawmaker who sponsored the Hidden Predator Act, Republican Rep. Jason Spencer, is trying to get his colleagues in the General Assembly to extend the measure and go even further. He wants to open a new twoyear window, and to expand the scope of the law to allow victims to sue both their abusers and the organizations where they worked or with which they were associated. He also wants to extend the deadline for filing a lawsuit by 15 years, to the victim’s 38th birthday. The Associated Press

COLUMBUS — The body of a missing fisherman in Georgia has been found with the help of newly acquired sonar equipment.

The Columbus LedgerEnquirer reports divers with the Columbus Department of Fire and Emergency Medical Services used the equipment to locate the fisherman who disappeared on Lake Oliver on Thursday.

Muscogee County Deputy Coroner Charles Newton says the body of the 45-year-old man was recovered in about 20 feet of water around 2 ½ hours after he went missing.