A Los Angeles sexual abuse lawyer helps survivors seek money damages in a civil case from the person who caused the harm and from any school, church, employer or other organization that failed to protect them. These claims are usually filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court, run separately from any police case, and many older claims are still allowed under California law.
Anyone reading this page may be weighing a decision that feels heavy, or may simply want to understand what the law allows. Both are common. The sections below explain, in plain terms, how civil cases differ from criminal ones, which deadlines apply, who can be held responsible, what damages are available and how a case moves through the Los Angeles courts. Support resources are listed for readers who are not thinking about a lawsuit at all.
What a Civil Sexual Abuse Case in Los Angeles Actually Involves
Two separate legal tracks can follow from the same conduct. A criminal case is brought by the government, usually the District Attorney, and aims at punishment such as jail. A civil case is brought by the survivor and aims at compensation, called "damages," which is money paid for the harm done. The two tracks do not depend on each other. A civil claim can go forward even if no one was charged, no police report was made, or a criminal case ended without a conviction. California's adult sexual assault statute says this directly: no criminal prosecution is needed for the civil claim. Our guide to civil and criminal abuse cases explains the differences in more detail.
In a civil case, the survivor who files is the "plaintiff." The person or organization being sued is the "defendant." Defendants are not limited to the individual who caused the harm. Institutions that employed, supervised or gave that person access can also be defendants. In Los Angeles, those institutions include schools, churches and other religious organizations, youth organizations, employers, healthcare providers, hotels and rideshare companies.
The Los Angeles County Superior Court has many courthouses, from downtown Los Angeles to the San Fernando Valley and Long Beach. Where a case belongs depends on the facts and on the defendants, and that is part of what an attorney sorts out.
California's Statute of Limitations for Sexual Abuse Claims
A statute of limitations is the deadline to file a lawsuit. California has revised its sexual abuse deadlines several times. As a result, the rule depends on two facts: how old the survivor was, and when the abuse happened. The California statute of limitations guide covers each rule at length. The summary below covers the main points.
Childhood sexual abuse (under age 18). Cal. Code Civ. Proc. § 340.1 governs these claims.
- For abuse that occurred on or after January 1, 2024, there is no time limit. That applies to claims against the person who committed the abuse and to claims against any person or entity whose negligent or intentional act was a legal cause of it.
- For abuse that occurred on or before December 31, 2023, the no-time-limit rule does not apply. Those claims follow the law as it stood on December 31, 2023. Under that law, a survivor can file until age 40, or within five years of discovering, or when they reasonably should have discovered, that a psychological injury or illness occurring after age 18 was caused by the abuse, whichever is later.
- AB 218 (2019) also opened a three-year revival window for older claims. That window closed on December 31, 2022. The age-40 and five-year discovery rules remain in effect.
- A later 2023 change did not revive claims that had already expired. Its no-time-limit rule reaches only abuse on and after January 1, 2024.
Survivors age 40 or older when they file must also file "certificates of merit." These are sworn statements from the attorney and from a licensed mental health practitioner who is not the survivor's therapist. Section 340.1 also allows up to treble damages (three times the award) against a defendant found to have covered up the sexual assault of a minor. The statute defines a cover-up as a concerted effort to hide evidence.
Sexual assault at age 18 or older. Cal. Code Civ. Proc. § 340.16 governs these claims. The deadline is the later of two dates:
- 10 years from the last act, attempted act or assault, or
- three years from when the survivor discovered, or reasonably should have discovered, that an injury or illness resulted from it.
The same section also revives otherwise time-barred adult claims for conduct on or after January 1, 2009. Those claims may be filed until December 31, 2026. The only claims excluded are those litigated to finality, or settled in a written agreement, before January 1, 2023. A separate revival window runs from January 1, 2026 to December 31, 2027. That window expressly excludes public entities.
Two earlier windows in § 340.16 were tied to physicians at a particular university student health center and a particular university medical clinic. Both closed, in 2020 and 2021. A survivor whose situation resembles those cases would now look to the current rules above.
Deadlines turn on specific dates and facts. This page cannot say whether any one person's claim is timely. A confidential review is how that question gets answered.
Who Can Be Held Liable: Individuals and Institutions in Los Angeles
The person who committed the abuse can be sued directly. In many Los Angeles cases, though, the more significant question is which organization made the abuse possible. Survivors often focus only on the individual and do not realize that the law also looks at the institution around that person. Our page on institutional sexual abuse covers these theories more fully.
Institutional liability usually rests on negligence, meaning a failure to use reasonable care. The common theories include:
- Negligent hiring: bringing someone on despite warning signs that a reasonable check would have revealed.
- Negligent supervision: failing to monitor a person who had access to children or other vulnerable people.
- Negligent retention: keeping someone in a role after the organization knew, or should have known, that the person was a danger.
- Respondeat superior: a Latin phrase for the rule that an employer can be responsible for acts an employee commits within the scope of the job. Whether sexual misconduct falls within that scope is a contested question. For that reason, negligence theories often carry more weight in these cases.
The kinds of defendants that appear in Los Angeles County litigation include religious organizations, youth sports programs, foster care and group home operators, healthcare providers, hotels and hospitality businesses, and rideshare and transportation companies. Naming a category here does not mean any particular local organization has been accused of anything.
Public schools and other public entities. The rules here are commonly misstated, so they deserve care. The Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) and county agencies are public entities. Many people believe every claim against a public entity must first go through the Government Claims Act process, filing a written claim with the agency before suing. Cal. Gov. Code § 911.2 generally requires that claim within six months for personal injury.
For childhood sexual abuse claims, that is not the rule. California law exempts claims brought under § 340.1 from the claim-presentation requirement for local public entities. It also bars a local entity from substituting its own claim procedure. Section 340.1 itself states that such a claim does not have to be presented to any government entity before suit.
Against the State, as opposed to a local entity, the rule is narrower. There, the exemption reaches conduct on or after January 1, 2024. Where a defendant's status is unclear, the first step is to establish whether it is a local entity or the State.
For adult sexual assault claims against a public entity, the claim-presentation requirement may still apply. How the 2026 revival window in § 340.16 interacts with public entities is a question the law has not settled. The school sexual abuse guide addresses public-school claims specifically.
Title IX, a federal law, can provide a separate claim for abuse connected to a school. It runs on its own track, with its own rules.