# Minnesota Child Victims Act of 2013 *2013 Minnesota law reported to have opened a three-year retroactive window for civil claims.* The **Minnesota Child Victims Act of 2013** is a [[Minnesota]] law. A 2021 BishopAccountability.org article reports that it opened a three-year retroactive civil window.[^1] The sources assembled for this entry do not include the act's enacted text, its session-law citation, its sponsors, its vote or its signing. The record here therefore does not establish which legislature or party enacted it, or how the window was drafted. The window's mechanics are stated only as that secondary source reports them.[^1] In Stearns County, the Diocese of St. Cloud announced a [[Chapter 11]] filing on June 15, 2020.[^2] MPR News reported that a reorganization plan was approved on December 4, 2020 against 74 claims.[^3] An at-issue entry in the Stearns County record attributes the county's clergy-related disclosures, settlements and bankruptcy to the act. That attribution is the entry's claim, and the record assembled here does not establish the causal link.[^1] ## What BishopAccountability.org reports two things. The act opened a window for civil claims, and that window applied retroactively for three years.[^1] The same article reports an account from Janelle Kendall, the Stearns County [[county attorney]], explaining why charges were not brought. She said that Minnesota's criminal statute of limitations had required charges within nine years of the offense or within three years of a child victim's report. She also said that a later repeal of that limit, driven by DNA evidence, is not retroactive.[^1] As reported, the two instruments differ in reach. The 2013 civil window reached back to older claims, and the later criminal-limitations repeal did not.[^1] Both accounts come from secondary reporting. The session laws themselves are not in the record assembled here.[^1] ## In the at-issue record Entry AI-Stearns-071 in the Stearns County package states that the act "opened a three-year retroactive civil window." It goes on to say that this legislative act, not any Stearns County institution, "is the proximate cause of every disclosure, settlement, and bankruptcy in the county's clergy record."[^1] The entry lists a single context source, from bishop-accountability.org.[^1] Its anchor is a March 2026 White House presidential action, *Establishing the Task Force to Eliminate Fraud*. The record assembled here does not show that this instrument addresses the Child Victims Act.[^5] The documented outputs in the county's clergy record are dated as follows: - **Bankruptcy filing.** On June 15, 2020, the Diocese of St. Cloud announced that it had filed for Chapter 11 reorganization.[^2] - **Settlement framework.** The [[Star Tribune]] reported a $22.5 million framework resolving more than seventy suits.[^4] - **Plan approval.** MPR News reported that the plan was approved on December 4, 2020 against 74 claims.[^3] The two counts measure different things: suits in the Star Tribune report and claims in the MPR News report. Each is stated as its source gives it.[^3][^4] ## Notes [^1]: BishopAccountability.org, *Is this the year Minnesota gets rid of the statute of limitations on sexual assault?* (April 2021) — reports the 2013 act's three-year retroactive civil window and Stearns County Attorney Janelle Kendall's account of the criminal limitations period and the non-retroactive repeal; the single source listed by at-issue entry AI-Stearns-071. https://www.bishop-accountability.org/2021/04/is-this-the-year-minnesota-gets-rid-of-the-statute-of-limitations-on-sexual-assault/ [^2]: Diocese of St. Cloud, *June 15, 2020: Diocese files for Chapter 11 reorganization* (June 15, 2020) — the diocese's announcement of its Chapter 11 filing. https://stcdio.org/2020/06/15/june-15-2020-diocese-files-for-chapter-11-reorganization/ [^3]: MPR News, *St. Cloud diocese bankruptcy plan approved to settle abuse claims* (December 4, 2020) — reports approval of the plan against 74 claims. https://www.mprnews.org/story/2020/12/04/st-cloud-diocese-bankruptcy-plan-approved-to-settle-abuse-claims [^4]: Star Tribune, *St. Cloud diocese to file for bankruptcy, pay $22.5 million to abuse survivors* — reports the $22.5 million framework resolving more than seventy suits. https://www.startribune.com/st-cloud-diocese-to-file-for-bankruptcy-pay-22-5-million-to-abuse-survivors/570776642 [^5]: The White House, *Establishing the Task Force to Eliminate Fraud* (March 2026) — the presidential action listed as the at-issue entry's anchor. https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2026/03/establishing-the-task-force-to-eliminate-fraud/