Survivors of sexual abuse or assault in Vallejo may be able to bring a civil lawsuit for money damages against the person responsible and, in many cases, against a school, church, employer or other institution that failed to protect them. These cases are generally filed in Solano County Superior Court, and California's deadlines leave many older claims still open.
Civil Claims for Sexual Abuse Survivors in Vallejo
A civil claim is a lawsuit a survivor brings, in their own name, to seek compensation for harm. It is separate from a criminal case, which the state brings to punish a crime. A survivor in Vallejo can pursue a civil claim whether or not anyone called the police, whether or not charges were filed, and whether or not a criminal case ended in a conviction. The differences in who controls the case and what must be proved are set out in our page on civil vs. criminal cases.
California allows a survivor to sue the person who committed the abuse. It also allows claims against a person or organisation that owed the survivor a duty of care and whose negligence was a legal cause of the abuse. In practice, that is how a school district, religious organisation, youth program or care provider becomes a defendant: through theories such as negligent hiring, negligent supervision, negligent retention of an employee, or failure to protect a child in its care.
Filing deadlines depend mainly on when the abuse happened and how old the survivor was; those rules are explained below. A broader overview is in our guide to considering a California civil claim.
Where Vallejo Cases Are Filed: Solano County Superior Court
The Solano County Superior Court is the trial court for the whole county. Its main courthouse, where much of the county's civil work is processed, is at 600 Union Avenue, Fairfield, CA 94533.
The court also runs a Vallejo Branch Courthouse at 321 Tuolumne Street, Vallejo, CA 94590. Which location handles a particular civil filing, and which calendar a case is assigned to, is set by the court's own rules and can change. The court's official site at courts.ca.gov/solano is the reliable place to confirm current filing locations.
Where a case is filed depends on where the defendant is and where the conduct happened, not only on where the survivor lives today. Abuse that happened in another county may be filed there instead; the same California rules apply in Contra Costa County, as described on our Concord civil claims page, and in Alameda County, as described for Fremont survivors.
A public entity, such as a public school district, a city or a county, follows different procedural rules, discussed in the next section. For anyone looking for a general referral to a local attorney, the Solano County Bar Association operates a Lawyer Referral Service.
California's Statutes of Limitations for Sexual Abuse Civil Claims
A statute of limitations is the deadline for filing a lawsuit. In sexual abuse cases, California sets the deadline mainly by the date of the abuse and the survivor's age at the time. Statute text is published at leginfo.legislature.ca.gov.
Abuse that happened when the survivor was under 18
Childhood sexual assault claims are governed by Cal. Code Civ. Proc. § 340.1. The rule depends on when the abuse happened:
- Abuse on or after January 1, 2024: there is no time limit to file.
- Abuse on or before December 31, 2023: the claim follows the law as it stood on that date. A survivor may file until age 40, or within five years of discovering (or when they reasonably should have discovered) that a psychological injury or illness was caused by the abuse, whichever is later.
That second part is called the discovery rule: the clock may start not on the date of the abuse, but when the survivor connects later harm to it. A one-time revival window that reopened older childhood claims closed on December 31, 2022, and a later 2023 change did not reopen claims that had already expired. Even so, the discovery rule keeps many older claims alive, so a survivor past 40 is not necessarily out of time. A survivor who files at 40 or older must also file certificates of merit, signed by the attorney and by a licensed mental health practitioner who is not treating them.
Section 340.1 expressly covers claims against institutions, not only the individual. It also allows up to treble (triple) damages against a defendant proven to have covered up the abuse, which the statute defines as a concerted effort to hide evidence of it.
Abuse that happened when the survivor was 18 or older
Adult sexual assault claims are governed by Cal. Code Civ. Proc. § 340.16. The general deadline is the later of ten years from the last act of assault, or three years from when the survivor discovered or reasonably should have discovered an injury resulting from it. No criminal prosecution or conviction is required.
AB 2777 (2022), the Sexual Abuse and Cover Up Accountability Act, added a revival window in section 340.16(b)(3). It reopens adult assault claims based on conduct on or after January 1, 2009 that would otherwise be barred only because the deadline passed. That window is open until December 31, 2026. It does not revive a claim litigated to a final judgment before January 1, 2023, or one settled in a written agreement before that date.
Claims against public entities
The Government Claims Act (Cal. Gov. Code § 910 and following sections) generally requires a written claim to be presented to a public entity before suing it, with its own deadlines. Childhood sexual assault claims are treated differently. A claim under section 340.1 against a local public entity, such as a school district, city or county, does not need to be presented to that entity before suit, and a local entity cannot substitute its own claim procedure. Claims against the State of California follow separate rules, and the exemption there reaches only conduct on or after January 1, 2024.
For adult assault claims against a public entity, the claim-presentation requirement may still apply, and timing should be reviewed carefully.