A California sexual abuse lawsuit is a civil claim a survivor files to recover money from the person who committed the abuse and, often, from the school, church, employer, or government agency that enabled it. California has spent the past several years expanding who can sue and how long they have to do it, and as of 2026 the state has some of the most survivor-friendly filing rules in the country. What follows is how the deadlines work, who can be held responsible, what you can recover, and how a civil case differs from a criminal one.
How Long You Have to File
Deadlines depend on whether the abuse happened when you were a child or an adult, and when it occurred.
Childhood Sexual Abuse
For abuse that took place on or after January 1, 2024, there is no statute of limitations. A survivor can file at any age.{1California Senate Judiciary Committee. AB 452 Senate Judiciary Analysis} If you are 40 or older when you file, your attorney and a licensed mental health practitioner must sign a certificate of merit attesting to psychological harm.{2Keenan. AB 452 Will Eliminate the Statute of Limitations for Childhood Sexual Assault Claims}
For abuse that occurred before 2024, the deadline is age 40 or five years from when you discovered you were psychologically injured by the abuse, whichever comes later.{3NCSL. State Civil Statutes of Limitations in Child Sexual Abuse Cases}{4Zalkin Law Firm. California AB 218}
Adult Sexual Assault
If you were 18 or older when the assault occurred, Code of Civil Procedure § 340.16 gives you ten years from the last assault, or three years from discovering the resulting injury, whichever is later.{5California Senate Judiciary Committee. AB 250 Senate Judiciary Analysis}
Revival Windows for Older Claims
Even when the standard deadline has passed, California has repeatedly opened temporary windows that reopen the courthouse to older claims. Whether you can use one depends on when the abuse happened and who you want to sue.
AB 218 (Closed)
AB 218 created a three-year window from January 1, 2020, through December 31, 2022, for adults to file childhood sexual abuse claims that were otherwise time-barred, no matter how far back the abuse went. It also waived the Government Claims Act’s requirement that plaintiffs file a preliminary claim before suing a public agency, which opened school districts and counties to lawsuits.{4Zalkin Law Firm. California AB 218}{6CSBA. Childhood Sexual Abuse Claims: AB 218 Lookback Provisions} That window has closed. If you missed it and your claim was already time-barred before 2020, AB 218 is no longer a path unless you also fit within the permanent deadlines above.
AB 2777 (Open Through 2026)
The Sexual Abuse and Cover Up Accountability Act revives adult sexual assault claims involving conduct on or after January 1, 2009, that were previously barred by the statute of limitations. These claims can be filed through December 31, 2026.{7LCW Legal. AB 2777 Extends the Statute of Limitations for Civil Actions Alleging Sexual Assault} A separate one-year window in 2023 covered cover-up claims against private entities; that window is closed. AB 2777 does not apply to public entities.{8Cal Public Agency Labor and Employment Blog. The Sexual Abuse and Accountability Act Has Opened the Window for New Lawsuits}
AB 250 (Opens January 2026)
AB 250, signed in October 2025, opens a two-year window from January 1, 2026, through December 31, 2027, for adult survivors to file otherwise time-barred civil claims against private-sector entities that allegedly covered up prior accusations. Public entities are exempt.{9Daily Journal. New Law Reopens Statute of Limitations for Sex Assault Suits}{10Musick Peeler. New California Law Reopens Statute of Limitations for Sexual Assault Lawsuits With Exemptions for Public Entities}
Who You Can Sue
You can sue the individual who abused you. Often the more meaningful recovery comes from the institution that employed, housed, or supervised the abuser. Under vicarious liability, schools, churches, youth organizations, foster care agencies, and other employers can be held responsible when they failed to prevent abuse, ignored complaints, skipped background checks, or actively concealed known abuse.{11Bart Kaspero Law. California Sexual Abuse Lawsuits}
Suing a government entity — a school district, a county, a state agency — normally requires filing a government claim with the agency within six months of the incident before you can go to court. AB 218 waived that step for childhood abuse claims filed during its window, which is why so many suits landed on public school districts and counties.{6CSBA. Childhood Sexual Abuse Claims: AB 218 Lookback Provisions} Outside that revival window, and under AB 2777 and AB 250, public entities are not covered.
What You Can Recover
California recognizes three categories of damages in sexual abuse cases:
- Economic damages, meaning measurable financial losses: past and future medical bills, therapy costs, lost wages, and reduced earning capacity.
- Non-economic damages for emotional distress, pain and suffering, and loss of enjoyment of life. California does not cap non-economic damages in sexual abuse cases.{}12Taylor Ring. Understanding Damages in California Sexual Abuse Cases
- Punitive damages, which punish especially malicious, oppressive, or fraudulent conduct such as predatory behavior or institutional concealment.{}13Gastelum Law. Civil Damages in Sexual Abuse Lawsuits
For childhood abuse claims under AB 218, a court can also award treble damages, tripling the actual damages, if a defendant is proven to have willfully concealed or covered up the abuse.{4Zalkin Law Firm. California AB 218}
Civil Lawsuit vs. Criminal Case
A civil lawsuit is not the same as a criminal prosecution, and the differences matter. A criminal case is brought by a district attorney on behalf of the state, and the goal is punishment. A civil case is brought by you, and the goal is compensation. The two can run at the same time, and neither depends on the other.{14Anderson Advocates. What Is the Difference Between a Civil Lawsuit and a Criminal Lawsuit}
You do not need a criminal conviction to win a civil case. The burden of proof in civil court is “preponderance of the evidence,” meaning it is more likely than not that the abuse occurred. That is a lower bar than “beyond a reasonable doubt.”{15Nix Law. Differences Between Criminal and Civil Sexual Abuse Cases} A person can be acquitted in a criminal case and still be found liable in a civil one. You can also sue the estate of a deceased perpetrator, or the institution that enabled the abuse, in ways criminal prosecution cannot reach.{14Anderson Advocates. What Is the Difference Between a Civil Lawsuit and a Criminal Lawsuit}
What These Cases Have Looked Like in Practice
The revival windows produced litigation at a scale that has reshaped major institutions in California. More than 2,000 lawsuits were filed against California Catholic dioceses during the AB 218 window alone, and six dioceses have filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in response.{16Los Angeles Times. Child Sex Abuse Lawsuits in California}{17Press Democrat. Santa Rosa Catholic Church Bankruptcy Sex Abuse} In October 2024, the Archdiocese of Los Angeles agreed to pay $880 million to 1,353 survivors, described as the largest clergy abuse settlement in U.S. history.{18Los Angeles Times. Archdiocese of Los Angeles to Pay $880 Million in the Largest Clergy Sexual Abuse Settlement}
Public agencies have paid too. In April 2025, Los Angeles County reached a tentative $4 billion settlement covering more than 6,800 claims of sexual abuse in county-run juvenile halls, probation department facilities, and the former MacLaren Children’s Center, with claims dating back to 1959; a later agreement pushed the total to more than 11,000 claimants.{19Los Angeles County. LA County Reaches $4 Billion Tentative Settlement in Thousands of Sexual Abuse Cases}{20Los Angeles County. LA County Announces Tentative Settlement of Additional AB 218 Cases} California school districts collectively face an estimated $2 billion to $3 billion in AB 218 settlement costs, according to a January 2025 report by the Fiscal Crisis and Management Assistance Team.{21EdSource. LAUSD Agrees to Pay Millions to Settle Sexual Assault Lawsuits}
Individual verdicts have also been large. In October 2023, a Riverside County jury awarded $135 million to two former students of the Moreno Valley Unified School District who alleged years of sexual abuse by a teacher the district knew had prior complaints against him dating back to 1988. The jury found the district 90% responsible.{22Los Angeles Times. Moreno Valley Unified School District Molestation Case}{23Panish, Shea, Boyle, Ravipudi. PSBR Obtains $135 Million Jury Verdict in Childhood Sexual Abuse Case}
The Law May Change
The financial pressure on public agencies has produced ongoing legislative efforts to narrow these lawsuits. Senate Bill 577, which would have raised the burden of proof for plaintiffs 40 and older and limited damages in certain cases, stalled in the Assembly; its author, State Senator John Laird, said it proved “impossible to balance” fiscal relief for local governments with survivors’ access to justice.{24The Imprint. California Bill to Restrict Lawsuits From Childhood Sex Abuse Survivors Fails} As of mid-2026, Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas has assigned lawmakers to develop new proposals, and drafts circulating among county officials include requiring “clear and convincing proof of liability” for claims filed more than 20 years after the alleged harm, capping non-economic damages at four times economic damages, and studying a state-administered victims’ compensation fund.{25EdSource. California Child Abuse Lawsuit Reforms} If you are considering a claim, the rules that apply on the day you file are the rules that count, so timing matters.