Table of Contents

WHERE CALIFORNIA LAW STANDS NOW

California no longer puts a deadline on a civil claim for childhood sexual assault that happened on or after January 1, 2024. That change came from Assembly Bill 452, signed on October 10, 2023. Before it, every survivor worked against a clock. Which rule applies depends on when the assault happened. Start there.

ASSAULT ON OR AFTER JANUARY 1, 2024

There is no civil statute of limitations. A survivor can bring a claim at any age, against the person who committed the assault and against an organization whose negligence or intentional conduct was a legal cause of it. That is the rule now written into Code of Civil Procedure section 340.1.

ASSAULT ON OR BEFORE DECEMBER 31, 2023

The older deadlines still govern. In broad terms a survivor has until their 40th birthday, or five years from the date they reasonably discovered that a psychological injury was caused by the abuse, whichever is later. Those rules now sit in section 340.11. One condition matters a great deal. A claim brought on or after the survivor’s 40th birthday against an organization rather than the abuser requires showing that the organization knew of, or was on notice of, the risk and failed to put reasonable safeguards in place. The five-year discovery track matters more than people expect, because the connection between the abuse and its effects is often made in adulthood, in therapy.

THE REVIVAL WINDOW HAS CLOSED

Assembly Bill 218 opened a three-year window, from January 1, 2020 through December 31, 2022, that revived claims which had already expired. That window is closed. Pages still describing it as open are out of date, and a survivor relying on one could reach the wrong conclusion about their options. If your claim expired before 2020 and you did not file during the window, talk to a lawyer rather than assuming either way.

A NOTE FOR SURVIVORS FILING AT 40 OR OLDER

California adds a procedural step. A plaintiff who is 40 or older when the case is filed has to submit certificates of merit, one signed by the attorney and one by a licensed mental health practitioner who has interviewed the survivor and finds a reasonable basis for the claim. It is a filing requirement, not a test of whether the case is true. Your lawyer arranges it.

A CIVIL CLAIM AND A CRIMINAL CASE ARE NOT THE SAME

They are separate proceedings with separate outcomes. A criminal case belongs to the District Attorney and decides whether someone is punished. A civil case belongs to the survivor and decides who pays for the harm. One does not control the other.

You do not need a criminal conviction to bring a civil claim. No police report is needed either. You do not need the DA to have filed anything. Prosecutors decline cases for reasons that have nothing to do with whether the abuse happened, including the age of the evidence.

The burden of proof differs as well. A criminal conviction requires proof beyond a reasonable doubt. A civil claim turns on a preponderance of the evidence, which means more likely than not. That is why civil cases sometimes succeed where a prosecution never started.

WHO CAN BE HELD RESPONSIBLE BESIDES THE ABUSER

Abuse often happens inside an organization that had a duty to protect the child. The list is long. Schools, youth programs, churches, sports organizations, camps, foster placements, detention facilities. California law lets a claim reach the organization, not only the individual, when the organization’s own conduct helped cause the harm. The same principles run through our wider San Diego sexual abuse work.

NEGLIGENT HIRING

The organization put someone in contact with children without the screening a careful one would have run. Intent is not the question. It is what a background check, a reference call, or a look at an employment gap would have surfaced.

NEGLIGENT SUPERVISION

The organization allowed what its own rules were written to prevent. Unsupervised one-on-one contact, off-site trips without a second adult, private transport, after-hours access. Policies matter here. So does whether anybody enforced them.

NEGLIGENT RETENTION

A concern was raised and the organization kept the person in place. A quiet transfer, an investigation that never happened, a personnel file with nothing where a response belongs. Those records often decide the case.

COVER-UP

California treats concealment as its own wrong. Under section 340.1 a court may award up to treble damages against a defendant found to have engaged in a cover-up, meaning a concerted effort to hide evidence of the assault. There is a limit worth knowing. In 2023 the California Supreme Court held in Los Angeles Unified School District v. Superior Court that public entities are immune from those treble damages, so the enhancement reaches private organizations rather than a public school district. Proving a cover-up takes documents. Those documents surface in discovery, which is one practical reason a claim brought with a lawyer reaches further than a complaint made directly to the organization.

SUING A SCHOOL DISTRICT OR OTHER PUBLIC AGENCY

Public agencies normally get an extra layer of protection in California. Before you can sue a school district, a county, or a city, you usually have to present a written claim to that entity within six months. It has ended strong cases.

Childhood sexual assault claims are exempt. Government Code section 905 carves them out of the claim presentation requirement, and AB 218 removed the date limit that had confined that carve-out to more recent conduct. A survivor suing a public school district does not have to clear that step first. If your claim also includes non-sexual abuse or neglect, the six-month rule can still apply to that part of it, which is a reason to have someone sort the pieces early.

One caution about timing that has nothing to do with the statute. As of August 2026 the Legislature is weighing changes to AB 218 pushed by school districts and other public agencies, with proposals reported to include capping pain and suffering awards at four times economic damages and requiring clear and convincing proof of liability for abuse alleged more than twenty years earlier. Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas assigned a working group to it. Nothing has passed. But the rules around institutional claims are being renegotiated right now, and that is worth knowing before deciding to wait.

WHAT A SURVIVOR CAN RECOVER

Damages cover what the abuse actually cost. Therapy and psychiatric care, past and future, is usually the largest and longest-running item. Medical treatment, medication, and inpatient or residential care are recoverable where they trace to the abuse.

Lost earnings and lost earning capacity belong in the claim where the harm interrupted school, training, or a career. Non-economic damages cover the emotional injury itself, which in these cases is the core of what was taken. Experts build the future numbers. Those projections are expert opinion, and the other side will contest them.

Punitive damages are possible but narrow. California requires clear and convincing evidence of oppression, fraud, or malice, a standard well above ordinary carelessness. The treble damages provision for a proven cover-up sits separately from that.

WHAT TO DO FIRST, AND WHAT HELPS A CASE

Nothing has to be ready first. These are the things that help, roughly in order.

Take care of the immediate safety issue. If a child is in danger right now, call 911. To report suspected abuse in San Diego County, the Child Abuse Hotline runs 24 hours at (858) 560-2191. Calling from elsewhere in California, use (800) 344-6000. Reporting is separate from any legal claim.

Get support that is not about litigation. RAINN’s National Sexual Assault Hotline is free, confidential, and available 24 hours at (800) 656-4673. Talking to a counselor is not a legal step and does not commit you to anything.

Write down what you remember, in your own words. Names, places, dates or approximate dates, who else was there, and anyone you told at the time. You do not need a perfect account. A record made now is more useful than a reconstruction later.

Keep anything that documents the connection. Therapy records, school files, employment or volunteer records for the organization, old letters, messages, or emails. Do not worry about whether something is legally relevant. Keep it and let a lawyer sort it.

Do not sign anything. No releases, no recorded statements. Not to the organization, not to its insurer, not for a quick offer. An early offer made before you have counsel is almost never made for your benefit.

SAN DIEGO CHILD SEXUAL ABUSE FAQS

IS IT TOO LATE IF THE ABUSE HAPPENED DECADES AGO?

Often it is not, and the answer depends on dates rather than on how long ago it feels. For assault on or after January 1, 2024 there is no civil deadline at all. For earlier abuse the deadline is generally the survivor’s 40th birthday or five years from when they reasonably discovered that a psychological injury was caused by the abuse, whichever comes later. The revival window that ran from 2020 through 2022 has closed. The tracks differ this much. The only reliable answer comes from someone who has the dates in front of them.

DO I HAVE TO REPORT TO POLICE TO BRING A CIVIL CLAIM?

No. A civil claim does not require a police report, a criminal charge, or a conviction. Some survivors report and some do not, and that decision is yours. Where a child is currently at risk, reporting to the Child Abuse Hotline is a separate step that protects other children and is not a legal filing.

WILL MY NAME BE PUBLIC?

Not necessarily. California courts allow survivors of sexual assault to proceed under a pseudonym in appropriate cases, and courts also limit disclosure of sensitive records. It is not automatic and it depends on the case, so raise it in the first conversation. Confidentiality is a normal thing to ask about, not an unusual request.

CAN A PARENT FILE FOR A CHILD WHO IS STILL A MINOR?

Yes. A parent or legal guardian petitions the court to be appointed guardian ad litem and brings the case on the child’s behalf. California courts also review and approve any settlement involving a minor, which is a protection for the child. A survivor who has already reached adulthood files in their own name.

WHAT DOES A CHILD SEXUAL ABUSE LAWYER COST?

Nothing up front. Gomez Trial Attorneys handles these claims on contingency, so there is no attorney’s fee unless the case recovers money. The firm advances case costs. Whether any of those costs are charged back if there is no recovery is set out in the written fee agreement, and we go through it with you before you sign. The first conversation is free and confidential.

TALK TO A SAN DIEGO CHILD SEXUAL ABUSE LAWYER

A first conversation is not a commitment to file anything. It is a conversation about dates, about what records might exist, and about which deadline applies to you. You can end it at any point. You decide how much to say. Gomez Trial Attorneys brings these claims against individuals and institutions across San Diego County, alongside our San Diego child abuse and children’s rights work.

Call 833-GET-GOMEZ, in English or Spanish, or reach us through our contact page. Institutional records get destroyed on retention schedules and staff move on. Starting early keeps the record intact.

This page is general information about California law, not legal advice, and reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship. We do not give medical advice.