Survivors of sexual abuse or assault in Victorville may be able to bring a civil lawsuit for money damages, and the deadline depends on when the abuse happened. Childhood abuse on or after January 1, 2024 has no filing deadline. Adult assault generally allows 10 years from the last act or three years from discovery, and a revival window for older adult claims runs until December 31, 2026.
Survivors of sexual abuse or assault in Victorville may be able to bring a civil lawsuit for money damages against the person responsible and, in many cases, against an institution that failed to protect them. These cases are generally filed in San Bernardino County Superior Court at the Victor Valley Courthouse, and California's filing deadlines depend on when the abuse happened.
Many survivors do not connect what happened to them with a civil claim until years later, and California law was written with that in mind. Nothing on this page asks you to describe what happened.
Civil Claims for Sexual Abuse in California: What Survivors in Victorville Can Pursue
A civil claim belongs to the survivor. In a criminal case, the State, through the District Attorney, decides whether to prosecute. In a civil case, the survivor is the plaintiff and decides whether to file, settle or go forward. The page on civil and criminal abuse cases covers that difference.
A civil claim requires proof by a preponderance of the evidence, meaning more likely true than not, rather than beyond a reasonable doubt. A civil case can proceed even if no one was charged or convicted.
Civil claims in this area commonly include:
- Battery, meaning harmful or offensive touching without consent.
- Intentional infliction of emotional distress, for outrageous conduct that caused severe emotional harm.
- Negligence, often against a school, church, youth organization, healthcare provider, foster agency or public entity that owed a duty of care and failed it, such as through negligent hiring, supervision or retention.
Claims arise in many settings, including childhood abuse, abuse by a teacher, coach, clergy member or medical provider, and assault by a partner or acquaintance. Sorting out which category applies is the attorney's work, not the survivor's. (Workplace harassment without sexual assault falls outside this page.)
Damages may include past and future medical and therapy costs, lost earnings and earning capacity, and compensation for pain, suffering and emotional harm. Punitive damages may be available in some cases. Where a childhood sexual assault claim proves a cover-up, California Code of Civil Procedure § 340.1 allows recovery of up to treble damages against a defendant found to have covered up the abuse of a minor, unless another law prohibits it.
California's Statutes of Limitations for Sexual Abuse Civil Claims
A statute of limitations is the legal deadline for filing a lawsuit. Which rule applies depends mostly on when the abuse happened and the survivor's age. The general framework is on our page about considering a California civil claim.
Abuse that happened when the survivor was under 18. Code of Civil Procedure § 340.1 governs childhood sexual assault claims.
- For abuse that occurred on or after January 1, 2024, there is no time limit to file, both against the person who committed the abuse and against a 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 claim is governed by the law as it stood on that date: a survivor may generally file until age 40, or within five years of discovering (or when they reasonably should have discovered) that a psychological injury was caused by the abuse, whichever is later. The 2024 change did not revive older claims that had already expired.
- AB 218 (2019) opened a three-year window for previously time-barred childhood claims. That window closed on December 31, 2022.
A survivor who is 40 or older when the case is filed must, through the attorney, file certificates of merit, including one from a licensed mental health practitioner who has interviewed the survivor.
Assault that happened at age 18 or older. Code of Civil Procedure § 340.16, as amended by AB 1619 effective January 1, 2019, gives an adult survivor 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 it.
The adult revival window open now. Section 340.16 also revives adult sexual assault claims that would otherwise be time-barred, where the conduct occurred on or after January 1, 2009. Those claims may be filed until December 31, 2026. The only claims not revived are those litigated to finality before January 1, 2023, and those resolved by a written settlement agreement entered into before January 1, 2023. A separate, later window running from January 1, 2026 to December 31, 2027 applies to certain revived claims against private entities; it does not reach public entities.
Delayed discovery, tolling during minority and concealment by a defendant can also affect timing. These are fact-specific, and options may exist even when the abuse happened many years ago.
Where Civil Sexual Abuse Cases Are Filed in San Bernardino County
For Victorville and much of the High Desert, the local courthouse is the San Bernardino County Superior Court, Victorville District, at the Victor Valley Courthouse, 14455 Civic Drive, Victorville, CA 92392. It serves civil filings for the Victor Valley, including Apple Valley, Hesperia and Adelanto.
Most sexual abuse claims are "unlimited civil" cases, the category for claims seeking more than $35,000, which affects procedure such as discovery. The San Bernardino civil claims page covers other county courthouses.
When a defendant is a public entity. California Government Code § 945.4 generally provides that no lawsuit for money damages may be brought against a public entity, on a claim that must be presented, until a written claim has been presented and acted on or deemed rejected. That rule does not apply the same way to every survivor:
- Childhood sexual assault claims are exempt by statute from the claim-presentation requirement for local public entities such as school districts and counties, and a local entity cannot substitute its own claim procedure. For a State defendant, the exemption applies only to abuse occurring on or after January 1, 2024.
- For adult assault claims against a public entity, the claim-presentation requirement may still apply, and its deadlines are short.
The attorney prepares and files the complaint, and much of the early process happens through filings rather than in-person appearances.