Follow up: 8th Circ rules SOL ran on Seward Church School abuse case

Earlier this month the Nebraska Court of Appeals heard Plaintiffs' appeal in a sex abuse case against The Lutheran School of Seward Nebraska and an individual teacher. Now the 8th Circuit in a companion case has ruled in favor of the defendants agreeing that it was too late for an adult who alleged a school teacher abused him while he was a teenager. The Plaintiff turned 21, the date damage actions limitation periods begin to run for most torts against minors, in 1985 but did not file suit until 2002. "Nebraska law applies to this diversity suit. Nebraska's four-year statute of limitations for tort actions, see Neb. Rev. Stat. § 25-207(3), is tolled for minors until they reach the age of 21, see Neb. Rev. Stat. § 25-213; Brown v. Kindred, 608 N.W.2d 577, 580 (Neb. 2000). " Federal District Court Judge Laure Smith Camp said while she did not discount the seriousness of Kraft's mental condition, it was disingenuous for Kraft to claim he experienced an "epiphany" connecting his problems with the alleged abuse beginning on May 16, 2002. The 8th Circ made very clear that this was not a case of truly repressed memory that would have prevented a plaintiff from ascertaining his injuries, rather, "Kraft has always retained an awareness of the facts of the claimed abuse," said Circuit Judge Hansen; moreover, " (undisputedly) Kraft drew a direct connection between the abuse and his negative behaviors in 1990, when he disclosed the abuse to his wife and parents as an explanation for his marital discord and homosexual activity." Equitable tolling did not apply because the Plaintiff was well aware of his injury and his mental disorders did not prevent him from asserting his legal right to recovery if any.