Maryland Faces Up to $60B Liability from Child Sexual Abuse Claims

David Madison's lawsuit names the Cheltenham Youth Detention Center, a state-run juvenile facility where he says staff abused him. His case is one of more than 12,305 filed against Maryland government entities under the Child Victims Act, a liability that State Sen. Chris West warned could reach $60 billion, a figure approaching the scale of Maryland's entire annual state budget.

The financial pressure compounded crises already underway. Maryland closed a $3.3 billion deficit in fiscal year 2026 and projected a shortfall of $6 billion or more in fiscal year 2027. No dedicated fund exists to cover child abuse settlements, and no public payment plan has been announced. A more conservative independent estimate put the state's legal bill at $4.9 billion, still without a cent reserved. For Baltimore, which relies on state aid to fund schools, juvenile programs, and public services, the unresolved liability created budgetary uncertainty that extended well beyond the courthouse.

Three juvenile facilities appeared most frequently in the lawsuits: Cheltenham Youth Detention Center, the Charles H. Hickey Jr. School, which plaintiffs described as "a hotbed of sexual abuse," and the Thomas J.S. Waxter Children's Center, all state-run institutions that housed Baltimore City youth. Survivors alleged abuse across as many as 15 facilities spanning from 1969 to as recently as 2022. New York-based Levy Konigsberg LLP filed more than 650 CVA lawsuits; its partner Jerry Block organized a rally of more than 100 alleged survivors outside Baltimore City Hall on March 19, 2025. By June 2, 2025, the Circuit Court for Baltimore City was overwhelmed by nearly 1,300 filings and temporarily stayed all CVA proceedings.

The Child Victims Act, signed by Governor Wes Moore on April 11, 2023, abolished Maryland's civil statute of limitations for child sexual abuse retroactively and prospectively. The law took 16 years to pass after former Democratic Sen. James Brochin first introduced it in 2007. Its catalyst was a November 2022 report by Attorney General Brian Frosh identifying 600 victims and 158 accused clergy in the Archdiocese of Baltimore, with abuse documented to the 1940s. The Archdiocese filed for bankruptcy days before the law took effect; more than 1,000 people came forward before the May 30, 2024 claims deadline in that proceeding.

Facing mounting fiscal pressure, the General Assembly passed HB 1378, which Moore signed on April 22, 2025. The bill cut the damages cap for public-entity claims from $890,000 to $400,000 per person, reduced the private-institution ceiling from $1.5 million to $700,000, and restructured damages as a single payment per claimant regardless of how many incidents of abuse they suffered. Claims filed before May 31, 2025 qualified for the old higher caps, producing a courthouse rush in the final weeks of May.

Plaintiff attorneys called it unconstitutional from the outset. Corey Stern said it was "the most knowingly unconstitutional piece of legislation this legislative body has ever passed." Robert Jenner of Jenner Law called it "an affront to survivors," and David Lorenz, director of the Maryland chapter of SNAP, was direct: "The state is balancing its budget on the backs of the people it harmed." Even Del. David Moon, a Judiciary Committee member who voted for the bill, acknowledged, "None of us wants to be a yes on a bill like this."

Senate President Bill Ferguson said it would be "inappropriate" to publicly earmark settlement funds while litigation remained active, adding the matter "has to play out in court." Credit rating agencies scrutinized Maryland's unfunded exposure throughout, and the Supreme Court of Maryland upheld the CVA's constitutionality in February 2025, rejecting a challenge by the Archdiocese of Washington.

Survivors who have not yet filed should know that claims are now subject to the lower caps under HB 1378, though constitutional challenges to those caps are expected in court. Maryland's SNAP chapter, led by Lorenz, and plaintiff firms including Levy Konigsberg LLP and Jenner Law have been representing survivors throughout the litigation. Researchers note the average age at which childhood sexual abuse survivors first disclose is 52, meaning thousands of Marylanders may only now be learning the courthouse door is open.