Maness v. Gordon
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Bret Maness alleged that defendants committed a series of sexual assaults against him in the 1970s, when he was still a child. He further alleged that, although the defendants used a combination of date rape drugs and hypnosis to cause him to forget these incidents, he recovered memories of the assaults shortly before filing his complaint. Maness sued for assault and battery, sexual assault, intentional infliction of emotional distress, and false imprisonment, based on those 1970s incidents. The superior court concluded that Maness' claims are barred by the statute of limitations. In his appeal, Maness argued that the discovery rule tolled the statute of limitations because he provided an affidavit stating that he suffered from repressed memory syndrome and has only recently recovered memories of these assaults. The Supreme Court agreed with the superior court’s conclusion that expert testimony is necessary to support a claim based on repressed memory syndrome and affirmed the grant of summary judgment in favor of defendants.
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