More than 1,000 women will be allowed to join a lawsuit alleging state officials did nothing to stop sexual assaults and other abuse of female patients at Nebraska's three mental health hospitals.

U.S. District Judge Lyle Strom ruled Wednesday that the lawsuit filed on behalf of 16 female patients should be a class action, making it applicable to more than 1,000 women who have lived or now live at the centers in Lincoln, Hastings and Norfolk.

As many as 100 of those women allegedly were raped and sexually assaulted, according to court documents.

Officials at the attorney general's office said they could not comment on a pending lawsuit.

The 2002 lawsuit, filed by Nebraska Advocacy Services Inc., alleges that women patients were sexually assaulted by male hospital workers and patients.

Bruce Mason, litigation director for Nebraska Advocacy Services, said the request to expand the lawsuit was made after taking statements and depositions from scores of female patients who were subjected to "rape, sexual assault, sexual harassment, sexual exploitation and physical assault."

"In one instance, a male staff member who raped, sexually assaulted, and sexually abused numerous plaintiffs had a felony criminal record and an employment record involving sexually inappropriate behavior resulting in termination from that employment prior to his hiring at one of the … facilities," Mason said in court documents.

Mason said he has compiled a list of alleged assaults at the hospitals during a period from 2001 through part of 2004. He said he has yet to review records for the rest of 2004 and 2005.

The state had argued that past female patients could not be certified as class members because they would "no longer be subject to an ongoing violation of federal law."

But Judge Strom, in rejecting that argument, cited a 1908 U.S. Supreme Court ruling.

"The Supreme Court carved out a narrow exception to this rule," Strom said. "When the claim on the merits is ‘capable of repetition, yet evading review,' the … plaintiff may litigate the class certification issue despite loss of his personal stake in the outcome of the litigation."

Strom noted that many of the women have been residents of the facilities on more than one occasion.

"And it is possible that they could become residents again in the future, due to their continuing mental illnesses," he said. In addition, the judge said that if the state's argument was correction, then Nebraska could avoid future claims by releasing or transferring residents from the institutions.

Strom also said the result of the lawsuit would apply to future residents at the facilities. He set a trial date of Oct. 31. The women are seeking changes in policies and practices at the facilities, but not monetary damages.

The lawsuit stems from settlement of a 1995 federal action filed by four women at the Hastings Regional Center that required the state to provide better supervision of patients.