Client Advisory

The Superior Court of New Jersey Appellate Division held that the elimination of the notice requirement of the Tort Claims Act (TCA) applies to common law claims directly related to the sexual abuse of a minor, and that the removal of the requirement under the Child Sexual Abuse Act (CSAA) that a passive abuser be “within the household” of the victim applies to any action filed after December 1, 2019, and is not limited to claims that accrued after December 1, 2019.

Plaintiff sued Warren Hills Board of Education (Board), Warren Hills Junior High School (School), and F.M. alleging sexual abuse by F.M. who was a custodian and wrestling coach at the School and asserting claims under, inter alia, the CSAA and common law claims of negligence. The Board and School moved for summary judgment arguing that the TCA barred plaintiff’s common law claims against them because plaintiff had not given notice of the claims and the 2019 amendment to the TCA removing the notice requirement did not apply to common law claims. They also argued that they were not passive abusers as contemplated by the CSAA because they were not a member of plaintiff’s household and the 2019 amendment to the CSAA eliminating the “within the household” requirement was intended to be applied prospectively and did not apply to plaintiff’s claim which accrued before 2019. The trial court denied the motion, and Board and School moved for leave to appeal.

The Appellate Division affirmed and remanded for further proceedings consistent with its decision. In reaching its holdings, the Court applied canons of judicial legislative interpretation and relied on the rationale of a prior decision which held that the elimination of the notice requirement of the TCA applied to a CSAA complaint filed after December 1, 2019 but expressly left open the question of whether the waiver of the TCA’s notice requirement also applied to common law claims that did not arise out of the CSAA. The Court held that the language of the 2019 amendment to the TCA providing that procedural notice requirements “shall not apply to an action at law for an injury resulting from the commission of sexual assault…” (emphasis added), is construed to include common law claims, and that the 2019 amendment to the CSAA should be applied to any case filed after December 1, 2019, regardless of when the claims accrued.