Victims of childhood sexual abuse have more time to sue

The statute of limitations, or deadline, for filing a lawsuit for childhood sex abuse in Illinois will increase to 20 years. Currently, the deadline is ten years, and in some cases five years. Under the new law, a victim has 20 years from the day they turn 18, or 20 years from the time when they discover that they were abused and it caused them injury, to file a lawsuit. The deadline in these cases is much longer than the typical personal injury deadline. The reason is that many victims of sexual abuse have repressed memories, and even if they remember the abuse, they may not discover its harmful impact much later. The new statute of limitations goes into effect on Jan. 1, 2011.

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