Doe v. Silverman

Under ORS 12.117 (2009), the amended statute of limitation applies “to all applicable causes of action, no matter when the cause of action arose, except in cases where a judgment was entered prior to the effective date of ORS 12.117 (2009).”

Plaintiff, a victim of sex abuse, appealed the trial court’s grant of summary judgment in favor of Defendant, which dismissed Plaintiff’s claims as time barred. Plaintiff assigned error to the trial court's decision to apply ORS 12.117 (1993), the version in effect when Defendant abused Plaintiff, instead the current version of ORS 12.117 (2009).  On appeal, Plaintiff argued that the trial court should have applied the current version of ORS 12.117, which allows a victims of sex abuse to file claims any time before they turn 40 years old. Defendant argued that the version of the law that was in effect at the time the abuse occurred was controlling, and thus, the statute of limitation barred the Plaintiff’s claims before the law was amended. ORS 12.117 (2009), the amended statute of limitation applies “to all applicable causes of action, no matter when the cause of action arose, except in cases where a judgment was entered prior to the effective date of ORS 12.117(2009).” In this case, the Plaintiff filed his claim when he was 30 years old. The Court of Appeals held the trial court erred in dismissing the Plaintiff’s claims as time barred by the statute of limitation contained within ORS 12.117(1993). Reversed and remanded.