Sexual abuse by staff in a California juvenile hall, probation camp, or other county probation setting may support a civil lawsuit against the county, not only the abuser. For childhood abuse, no government claim is required first, and abuse on or after January 1, 2024 has no time limit. Adult abuse claims generally require a government claim first.
Many survivors of juvenile hall abuse do not connect what happened to a legal claim until years later. Youth held in these facilities often could not leave, had no safe person to tell, and were made to feel that no one would believe them. Silence at the time is common, and California law anticipates that. This guide explains how these claims work, which deadlines apply, and what the process looks like.
What a County Probation Sexual Abuse Claim Is Under California Law
A county probation sexual abuse claim is a civil lawsuit seeking compensation for sexual abuse committed by probation officers, staff, or contractors working in a county's probation system. The settings include:
- Juvenile hall, where youth are detained while a case is pending or after it is decided.
- Probation camps, residential facilities for youth placed there by a court.
- Group homes under probation supervision, where the county remained responsible for oversight.
- Field supervision, contact between a probation officer and someone on probation in the community.
A county probation department is a public entity, a government agency that can be sued only under specific California statutes. That is why claims against a county follow different rules from claims against a private employer.
A civil claim is separate from any criminal case. A criminal case is brought by the state to punish the abuser; a civil lawsuit is brought by the survivor and seeks compensation. More detail is in our guide to civil vs. criminal cases.
Abuse that happened while the survivor was a minor and abuse that happened as an adult can both be the basis of a claim, under different rules.
The Legal Framework: How California Allows Survivors to Sue a County
California has largely replaced sovereign immunity, the old rule that a government could not be sued without consent, with statutes defining when a public entity is liable.
The first is Government Code § 815.2. It reads, in part:
"A public entity is liable for injury proximately caused by an act or omission of an employee of the public entity within the scope of his employment if the act or omission would, apart from this section, have given rise to a cause of action against that employee or his personal representative."
This is a form of respondeat superior, the principle that an employer answers for what its employees do on the job. Whether sexual misconduct falls "within the scope" of employment is often contested, so many claims also rest on what the county itself did or failed to do.
The second is Government Code § 815.6. It makes a public entity liable when it fails to carry out a mandatory duty designed to protect against a particular kind of injury, unless the entity shows it used reasonable diligence.
Claims also commonly rest on negligent hiring, negligent supervision and negligent retention. A survivor may be able to sue the individual abuser, the county, or both.
AB 218 (2019) rewrote the rules for childhood sexual assault claims. AB 2777 (Stats. 2022, Ch. 442), the Sexual Abuse and Cover Up Accountability Act, created a revival window for certain otherwise time-barred adult sexual assault claims. That window is open through December 31, 2026, for assault occurring on or after January 1, 2009. Its only carve-outs are claims already litigated to finality and claims settled in writing before January 1, 2023. A separate revival window running January 1, 2026 to December 31, 2027, excludes public entities entirely, so it does not reach a county.
The Government Claims Act: The Step That Comes Before Filing a Lawsuit
The Government Claims Act (Government Code § 900 et seq.) generally requires that, before suing a public agency, a person first submit a written claim to that agency.
For injury to a person, Government Code § 911.2 requires the claim to be presented "not later than six months after the accrual of the cause of action."
A government claim is a form, not a detailed account. It generally asks for the claimant's name and address, the date and place of the incident, a general description of the injury, and the amount claimed if known. After a claim is presented, the county generally has 45 days to act. If it rejects the claim or does not act, the claimant generally then has six months to file a lawsuit.
For childhood sexual abuse, this step does not apply. California law exempts claims under Code of Civil Procedure § 340.1 against local public entities, including counties, from the claim-presentation requirement. Section 340.1(q) separately states that such a claim does not have to be presented to any government entity before suit, and a county cannot substitute its own claim procedure. The exemption has no condition tied to when the abuse happened: AB 218 removed the earlier conduct-date limit, and that change was made retroactive.
One caution. Some juvenile facilities were run by the State rather than a county. Claims against the State follow different rules with no such exemption, and the § 340.1(q) protection reaches State conduct only on or after January 1, 2024.
For abuse as an adult in a probation setting, the claim requirement generally does apply. The exemption covers § 340.1 claims only.
If a government claim deadline was missed, Government Code § 946.6 allows a court, in limited circumstances, to grant relief. The grounds include mistake or excusable neglect, being a minor during the claim period, and physical or mental incapacity.