Wolf ex rel. Estate of Jones v. State
Sep 07, 2023OUTCOME: The trial court's dismissal of the lawsuit was reversed, because the defendant had failed to produce evidence showing that the statute of limitations had run before the lawsuit was brought.
The probate estate of a deceased adult victim of childhood sexual abuse sued the State of Washington for failing to protect the victim from the abuse while he was in foster care as a child. The trial c ... ourt dismissed the lawsuit on summary judgment, ruling that the statute of limitations had run before the lawsuit was filed. The Washington Supreme Court disagreed, ruling that the State had failed to meet its burden of proving that the victim had actually realized, prior to his death, that the alleged negligence of the State in failing to protect him from the abuse was a cause (along with the abuse itself) of his injuries.
