🧵 In a ruling experts say will give sexual abuse survivors more power to sue attackers, the Texas Supreme Court allowed a lawsuit to go forward regarding a Houston man who alleges he was raped by a prominent Southern Baptist leader and former Texas judge. houstonchronicle.com/news/houston-t…
2/ In 2017, Duane Rollins sued Duane Pressler, claiming the longtime conservative political and religious leader first began to molest him when Rollins was a member of his youth group at various Houston churches in the early 80s. houstonchronicle.com/news/houston-t…
3/ Pressler and his lawyers denied the allegations and moved to have the case thrown out of court, arguing that Rollins had filed his claims too late.
At issue is Texas’ civil statute of limitations, the time period that victims have to file a lawsuit. houstonchronicle.com/news/houston-t…
At issue is Texas’ civil statute of limitations, the time period that victims have to file a lawsuit. houstonchronicle.com/news/houston-t…
4/ Rollins, however, said that trauma from the assaults led him to develop drug and alcohol addictions and suppress those memories until 2016, when they were revealed while undergoing psychiatric treatment in prison, where he was serving a DWI sentence. houstonchronicle.com/news/houston-t…
5/ Rollins argued that the statute of limitations should begin from when he realized he was the victim of the alleged sexual assault, not from when the alleged assault took place. #SBCtoo houstonchronicle.com/news/houston-t…
6/ The state’s high court agreed last week and ordered the case be sent back to Harris County district court. houstonchronicle.com/news/houston-t…
7/ Legal experts said the ruling is significant because it opens the door in Texas for people who were sexually abused as children to sue both attackers and institutions that mishandled or concealed the abuses years or decades later. houstonchronicle.com/news/houston-t… 
8/ Neuroscience research shows that about one in three child sex abuse victims suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder, and that many can develop a sort of Stockholm syndrome that prevents them from recognizing themselves as victims. houstonchronicle.com/news/houston-t…
9/ The average child abuse victim does not come forward until after their 50th birthday, long after it’s possible to file a lawsuit, according to research by ChildUSA, an advocacy group for statute of limitations reforms. houstonchronicle.com/news/houston-t…
10/10 In the past 20 years, a disturbing number of Southern Baptist leaders have engaged in sexual misconduct, leaving behind over 700 victims, a 2019 investigation by the Chronicle and San Antonio Express-News revealed. Read and hear the stories here: houstonchronicle.com/local/investig…
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