Phillips v. Gelpke

Plaintiff Melissa Phillips testified that, while still a child between the ages of three and eight, she was the victim of several sexual assaults by her uncle, defendant John Gelpke. She explained that some of her memories of those childhood assaults were triggered by a dream she had at age eleven and that, thereafter, she recalled further instances of sexual abuse as flashbacks. Defendant sought to bar that testimony, claiming that plaintiff was required to tender expert testimony supporting her delayed recall as a condition precedent to admissibility, a theory of admissibility rejected by…