(CN) - An Illinois appeals court revived a lawsuit brought by three men who claimed they were repeatedly molested by Catholic priests when they were children.
The plaintiffs, who are now more than 30 years old, sued the Catholic diocese of Peoria, Ill., for allegedly failing to prevent the abuse.
The lower court dismissed the case, citing the statute of repose in the 1991 Childhood Sexual Abuse Act. The plaintiffs' motion to reconsider was denied.
On appeal, Judge McDade of the 3rd District Appellate Court took a different view, because the statute of repose had been repealed by the time the plaintiffs sued.
"The Legislature chose to take away childhood sexual abuse defendants' substantive right to the protection of the statute of repose," the judge wrote, "at the same time it provided additional substantive rights for the alleged victims of childhood sexual abuse."
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