The Utah Supreme Court has reversed a $90,000 judgment against the Utah Division of Family Services stemming from a foster father's alleged sexual abuse of a 13-year-old boy the state placed in the man's home.
The court reversed a jury's verdict against Family Services because the statute of limitations had run out between the time of the abuse in 1973 and the time the boy sued the state in 1986.During 1973, Derran O'Neal was living with his divorced mother. The youngster, then 13, suffered emotional problems and was having difficulties at home and at school. The state arranged for O'Neal to move in with Dick Hill, a state-approved foster parent. The teen remained with Hill until 1977, according to the ruling.
In 1986, O'Neal told his mother that Hill sexually abused him during 1973 and 1974. Four months later O'Neal's mother, acting as his guardian, sued the state on behalf of O'Neal, claiming the state was negligent in placing O'Neal with an abusive foster parent.
The state sought to have the suit dismissed, claiming the four-year statute of limitations for negligence had run out long before O'-Neal filed the suit. O'Neal argued that the statute of limitations should be waived in his case. Fourth District Judge George E. Baliff agreed and allowed the case to go to trial. The jury concluded the state had been negligent and awarded O'Neal $45,000. Baliff doubled the judgment. The state appealed.
All five Supreme Court justices believe Bailiff erred when he refused to dismiss the case because the statute of limitations had run out. The justices reversed the jury's verdict and ordered the case dismissed.
State law allows the courts to waive statutes of limitations if the person bringing a complaint was mentally incompetent while the time limit ran out. O'Neal claimed the emotional damage he suffered from the abuse rendered him incompetent to file a complaint before 1986.
But the justices noted that during the years following the abuse, O'Neal finished high school, took some college courses, holds a job and has been promoted at that job.
"O'Neal has not shown himself to be incompetent," Justice Michael A. Zimmerman wrote in his decision. "Any failure to bring a claim has been a result of his own inaction."