Thread by @RobDownenChron

NEW: Texas Supreme Court has sided w/ a man claiming decades of rapes by Southern Baptist & GOP figure Paul Pressler. #SBCtoo

It is "massive and important" because it gives other abuse survivors significantly more rights in Texas, said @R_Denhollander
houstonchronicle.com/home/article/T…

@R_Denhollander 1/ Pressler's accuser Duane Rollins says he used drugs/alcohol to suppress memories. In 2016, a prison psych agreed and said he had PTSD from child trauma. Rollins sued. Three other men filed affidavits alleging similar misconduct. But Rollins' suit was dismissed on SOL grounds.

@R_Denhollander 2/ Rollins sued with a new firm, Houston's powerful Baker Botts. His attys said the psych report + Rollins' "unsound mind" meant it was impossible for Rollins to file his lawsuit inside Texas' window for abuse lawsuits. They said his window shouldve started when he had his outcry

@R_Denhollander 3/ By agreeing, the TX Supreme Court has rewritten caselaw with a far-more nuanced understanding of the neurological damage of child sex abuse and subsequent PTSD ... which is why the average CSA victim doesnt come forward until after turning 50, per research.

@R_Denhollander 4/ Experts have pled civil statute reform for years, saying lawsuits are the best way to get bad institutions to change. Such attempts have often faced opposition and lobbying from the Catholic Church, Boy Scouts and other groups with financial incentives to weaken victim rights.

@R_Denhollander 5/ The Texas Supreme Court's decision doesn't reform civil codes overnight - and certainly doesnt give CSA victims the same (and still pretty weak) rights allotted to them by the criminal courts.

But it does move the needle -- quite a lot.

/thred