Survivors of sexual abuse in San Jose can bring a civil lawsuit seeking money damages from the person responsible and from any school, church, employer or other organization whose failures allowed the abuse. These cases are generally filed in Santa Clara County Superior Court, and California deadlines, which depend on the survivor's age and the date of the abuse, can allow claims survivors assume are too old.
This page explains how civil sexual abuse and sexual assault claims work for people in San Jose and the rest of Santa Clara County. Reading it does not require describing what happened, and nothing here asks for that.
Civil Claims for Sexual Abuse Survivors in California
A civil lawsuit and a criminal case are two separate systems. In a criminal case, the State of California, through a prosecutor, decides whether to bring charges, and the possible outcome is punishment such as jail or prison.
A civil case belongs to the survivor. The survivor is the plaintiff, meaning the person who brings the lawsuit. The person or organization being sued is the defendant. The plaintiff decides whether to file, whether to settle and whether to keep going. The goal is compensation: money damages for the harm caused, and in some cases punitive damages, which are additional damages meant to punish especially serious misconduct.
A survivor in San Jose can file a civil claim whether or not anyone was arrested, whether charges were dropped, and whether a criminal case ended in an acquittal. California's adult sexual assault statute says this directly: no criminal prosecution or conviction is needed. A plaintiff generally needs to show that the claim is more likely true than not, called a "preponderance of the evidence," rather than proof beyond a reasonable doubt. More detail is in our guide to civil vs. criminal cases.
California's Statute of Limitations for Sexual Abuse Claims
A statute of limitations is the deadline for filing a lawsuit. In California, the deadline depends mainly on two facts: whether the abuse happened before or after age 18, and when it happened.
Childhood sexual abuse: Code of Civil Procedure § 340.1
Cal. Code Civ. Proc. § 340.1 governs claims for sexual abuse that happened before age 18. The rules depend on the date of the abuse:
- Abuse on or after January 1, 2024: there is no time limit to file. This change came from AB 452. It applies only to abuse from 2024 onward and did not revive older claims.
- Abuse on or before December 31, 2023: the earlier rule applies. A survivor generally has until age 40, or five years from the date they discovered, or reasonably should have discovered, that an adult psychological injury or illness was caused by the abuse, whichever is later.
That second rule includes what lawyers call the discovery rule: the clock may start when a survivor connects a present harm to the abuse, not necessarily on the date the abuse occurred.
AB 218 (2019) set these age-40 and five-year rules and also opened a three-year revival window, a period when claims that had already expired could be filed again. That window closed on December 31, 2022.
Plaintiffs who are 40 or older when they file must also submit certificates of merit, signed by their attorney and by a licensed mental health practitioner, before the case can proceed against a defendant.
When the defendant is a public entity, such as a public school district, the rules differ between local public entities and the State. For local public entities, childhood sexual abuse claims brought under § 340.1 are exempt from the usual requirement to present a government claim before suing. Claims against the State follow a different path that depends on when the abuse occurred.
Adult sexual assault: Code of Civil Procedure § 340.16
Cal. Code Civ. Proc. § 340.16, as amended by AB 1619 effective January 1, 2019, governs sexual assault that occurred on or after a survivor's 18th birthday. The deadline is the later of:
- 10 years from the last act of sexual assault, or
- three years from when the survivor discovered, or reasonably should have discovered, that an injury or illness resulted from the assault.
The statute also contains a revival window that is open now. For adult sexual assault that occurred on or after January 1, 2009, a claim that would otherwise be barred only because the deadline expired may be filed until December 31, 2026. The only claims excluded are those litigated to a final judgment before January 1, 2023, and those settled in a written agreement before January 1, 2023.
Two older windows written into § 340.16, tied to specific university physicians, closed in 2020 and 2021 and are no longer available.
Who Can Be Held Liable in a San Jose Sexual Abuse Case
The person who committed the abuse can be sued directly. In many cases, though, the more significant defendant is the organization that gave that person access and authority.
California law allows claims against any person or entity that owed a duty of care to the survivor if a negligent or wrongful act by that entity was a legal cause of the abuse. Institutional cases often rest on a few theories:
- Negligent hiring: an organization hired someone it knew, or should have known, posed a risk.
- Negligent supervision: an organization failed to reasonably oversee an employee or volunteer, or the people in its care, when it had reason to act.
- Negligent retention: an organization kept someone in a role after warning signs appeared.
- Failure to protect: an organization responsible for a child or other person in its care did not take reasonable steps to keep them safe.
These theories commonly arise with school districts, faith communities, youth programs, healthcare providers and employers. Whether a specific organization may be responsible is a question for a confidential review of the facts.
An individual perpetrator may have few assets, while institutions often carry insurance. Our California child sexual abuse guide covers institutional liability for childhood claims in more depth.
Where Sexual Abuse Civil Cases Are Filed in Santa Clara County
Civil sexual abuse cases arising in San Jose are generally filed in the Santa Clara County Superior Court. The Downtown Superior Court is located at 191 North First Street, San Jose, CA 95113, and the court's Civil Division handles personal injury and civil sexual abuse claims. Official court location and contact information is available through the California courts' Find My Court tool.
A case begins when the plaintiff's attorney files a complaint, the written document that names the defendants and states the legal claims. Each defendant must then be formally served. In childhood cases where the plaintiff is 40 or older, service waits until the required certificates of merit are handled.
A protective order is a court order limiting how sensitive information produced in a case can be used or shared. Courts can also, in appropriate cases, allow a survivor to proceed under a pseudonym such as "Jane Doe." Whether those protections are granted depends on the case and on the court.