I expect this opinion to apply eventually to all the cases in California. Lawyers for both sides had the opportunity to file written arguments and to present oral arguments to the judge. Judge Smith wrote a detailed and well-reasoned 51 page opinion explaining her analysis of the law. Smith ruled that the triple damages provision contained in CCP 340.1 was constitutional. On April 29, 2021, the Alameda Superior Court Judge Winifred Y. The San Francisco Bay Area cases have all been assigned to a judge in Alameda County. My law firm has filed a number of these cases. These lawsuits have been coordinated together some in the San Francisco Bay Area, some in Los Angeles, and some in San Diego. Since the new law went into effect in 2020, hundreds of lawsuits have been filed against a number of Catholic bishops, dioceses, and orders. One of the purposes of this punishment was to prevent future child abuse.

The legislature also wanted to provide a punishment of triple damages against a church or organization that covered up abuse or protected child predators. The legislature wanted to provide a remedy for this unfairness. This is why the legislature changed the law. Few children would have been aware of their right to file a lawsuit and the vast majority were so intimidated by Catholic priest abusers that they never told anyone until decades later. The statute of limitations in California barred most of these cases because the old statute of limitations required that a lawsuit be filed within two years from the abuse. The bishops’ lawyers argued that the triple damages provision in CCP 340.1 was unconstitutional because it imposed a new punishment that was not in place when the cover up conduct actually occurred. Part of that law, CCP 340.1, provided for triple damages for cover up. In 2019, the California legislature passed a law to provide for a 3-year window for survivors of childhood sex abuse to come forward and sue the priest and the church no matter how long ago the abuse occurred. The Catholic Bishops in Northern California had challenged a new law providing for triple damages against any Diocese or organization that covered up childhood sex abuse. Los Angeles Legal Examiner - Saunders & Walker

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