For years, school districts, youth-based organizations, religious institutions, and municipalities have relied on PolicyFind’s insurance archaeologists to locate their lost liability policies. These old policies hold incredible value today because they can fund civil lawsuits alleging wrongful acts against children decades ago.
Insurance Archaeology has been vital for organizations as states throughout the country have enacted laws that, either temporarily or permanently, remove the statute of limitations, allowing survivors of child sexual abuse to file civil suits against their abusers (and/or private or public entities).
In recent years, some ‘Child Victims Act’ laws have been challenged in their respective Supreme Courts, resulting in them being deemed unconstitutional in states like Maine and Colorado. In other states, like Maryland and Louisiana, the laws have been affirmed and upheld by the State Supreme Court.
Maryland
Maryland’s Child Victims Act was signed into law in 2023. However, the permanent revival window that removed restrictions on when survivors could file civil lawsuits was challenged in the Maryland Supreme Court. In February 2025, the Supreme Court upheld the state’s permanent revival window, allowing survivors to file civil suits against their perpetrators regardless of how long ago the abuse occurred.
According to peoples-law.org, Maryland’s Child Victims Act places caps on civil damages for child sexual abuse: “Monetary damages for claims against public entities are capped at $890,000, and Non-economic damages from private institutions such as churches and civic organizations are capped at $1.5 million.”
Louisiana
In 2021, the Louisiana Child Victims Act opened a ‘lookback window, or temporary time period, in which child abuse survivors could file civil lawsuits against their abusers, regardless of when the abuse happened. The Louisiana Supreme Court initially struck down the lookback window as unconstitutional but later reversed its decision. Louisiana’s lookback window will remain open until June of 2027.
Insurance Archaeology
These matters are sensitive and undoubtedly full of complexities for defendant institutions. When a school district, a religious institution, a municipality, or a non-profit receives a civil complaint of this nature, they will likely begin to assemble a team to assist them.
The attorney representing the defendant’s institution will probably anchor the team. An Insurance Archaeologist needs to be prominent on the team, too. Insurance Archeologists are the experts at illuminating those often long-buried or lost general liability insurance policies issued to the school or non-profit.
These old General Liability policies can respond today and provide the funds needed to answer revived abuse claims—even if the allegations date back to the 1980s (or earlier).
While these old policies can provide monetary relief, the policyholder must first prove the policy existed. This can be problematic, especially when the policies have long ago been discarded.
Insurance Archeology is the practice of locating and retrieving proof of the existence, terms, conditions, and limits of lost or destroyed insurance policies. Under current and future reviver statutes and emerging new laws across the country, historical CGL policies issued to businesses, schools, churches, and other organizations are the first line of assets to be explored to pay for claims against them.
Contact PolicyFind today to learn more about how to discover and reconstruct your organization’s historical liability insurance portfolio.
To learn whether your state has similar laws allowing permanent or temporary removal of the statute of limitations, Child USA maintains and updates its “SOL Tracker,” which contains the latest information on Child Abuse Statutes of Limitations in all 50 states.