What Evidence Should I Preserve After Sexual Abuse in California?

After sexual abuse in California, the evidence that usually matters most in a civil claim includes unwashed clothing and other physical items, digital messages, medical and therapy records, the names of people who noticed something or were told, and records of lost income and costs. Keeping what already exists, unchanged, keeps options open, and preserving it is not a commitment to use it.

Many people reading this have not decided anything yet. The question underneath is usually simpler: what to hold onto now, before knowing what comes next.

This guide is written from the perspective of California civil law, which covers claims for money damages against the person who caused the harm and against an institution that may have failed to protect the survivor. Evidence in these cases often shows both what happened and what an institution knew and did. For an overview, see the guide to a California sexual abuse lawsuit.

Physical Evidence: What to Keep and How to Keep It

Biological material, such as traces of skin, hair or fluids, can stay on clothing, bedding, towels or similar items. Washing removes it, and plastic bags trap moisture and can degrade it. Items are generally kept unwashed and stored in paper bags, each one separately if possible.

Gifts or notes from the person responsible, packaging, or other connected objects can also matter, often by showing a relationship, a timeline or a pattern of contact.

Photos of visible injuries are most useful when taken early, from several angles, with the phone's date and time data intact. Photos of the location, if safely reachable, can help show layout, lighting or who had access.

A SANE exam is another option. SANE stands for Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner, a nurse trained to collect forensic evidence and keep it under a chain of custody (a documented record of who handled the evidence and when). Whether to have this exam is a personal decision.

Biological evidence can degrade within days. Whatever still exists today can still be preserved, and many civil claims proceed without biological evidence at all.

Digital and Electronic Evidence

Messages are often central evidence in a modern case, and they are easy to lose. This category includes:

• Texts, direct messages and emails. Screenshots with dates and times visible, backed up where the other person cannot access them.
• Social media posts and messages. Blocking or reporting an account can remove the thread, so survivors often capture screenshots first.
• Voicemails and call logs.
• Dating app or platform messages where contact first began.
• Photos or videos sent by the other person, kept as they are, without forwarding.
• Location data, check-ins and calendar entries.

A forensic expert (a technical specialist who recovers and verifies digital data) can sometimes recover deleted messages.

Embarrassing or complicated content is still generally kept rather than deleted. An attorney can review what is relevant; deleting material removes that choice and can raise questions later.

Medical and Mental Health Records

Emergency room or urgent care records can document injuries, statements made at the time and treatment given. Therapy, psychiatry, primary care and pharmacy records show the course of treatment and how the harm has affected daily life.

California law gives patients the right to inspect and get copies of their own medical records, usually through a written request to the provider's records office.

A private journal or notes app with dated entries about symptoms, sleep problems, panic or missed work can also serve as a record. It does not need to describe the abuse itself.

Medical information in California is protected by the Confidentiality of Medical Information Act and by federal HIPAA rules. How and when records are shared in a civil claim is something an attorney handles carefully. The guide on confidentiality in sexual abuse claims explains more.

Witness Information and Third-Party Records

A simple list of names and contact details, written while memory is fresh, can matter years later. It might include:

• Anyone who saw the abuse, the other person's behavior, or the survivor's condition afterward.
• Friends, family, teachers, coaches or coworkers who noticed changes.
• Anyone the survivor told at or near the time, even briefly.

Third-party records include school disciplinary records, prior police reports, restraining orders and HR complaints. Workplace harassment claims are a separate legal area that this site does not cover.

Institutional records, such as earlier complaints, investigation files or personnel records, can show what an institution knew, which bears on claims such as negligent supervision. Once a case is filed, an attorney can use a subpoena (a court-backed order requiring someone to produce documents) to request them. The guides on school sexual abuse and clergy sexual abuse explain more.

Financial and Employment Records

Economic loss means money lost or spent because of the harm. Supporting records include:

• Pay stubs, tax returns or employer records showing income before and after the abuse.
• Records of missed work, leave, or a lost job.
• Bills and receipts for therapy, medical care, medication and travel to treatment.
• Any money exchanged with the other person, such as payments, gifts or loans.

Emotional harm is often the larger part of civil damages, and it does not depend on receipts.

Spoliation: What Happens When Evidence Is Destroyed

Spoliation is destroying, altering or failing to preserve evidence relevant to a pending or reasonably expected lawsuit. California courts can respond with sanctions, ranging from limiting what a party may argue to instructing the jury about the missing evidence.

One basis appears in California Evidence Code § 413. It provides that, in deciding what inferences to draw against a party, the jury or judge:

"may consider, among other things, the party's failure to explain or to deny by his testimony such evidence or facts in the case against him, or his willful suppression of evidence relating thereto, if such be the case."

This is called an adverse inference.

Institutions and individuals who reasonably expect litigation are also expected to preserve relevant records, often through a litigation hold that stops routine deletion. If an institution's files are missing when they should exist, that absence can become part of the case.

How Long Evidence Is Kept, and Why Timing Matters

Under California Penal Code § 1417.9, the government entity holding biological evidence from a criminal case generally must keep it for as long as anyone remains incarcerated in connection with that case. Earlier disposal is allowed only after formal notice and a waiting period. Other evidence follows schedules that vary by agency.

For childhood sexual abuse, Code of Civil Procedure § 340.1 now provides no time limit, but only for abuse occurring on or after January 1, 2024. Abuse on or before December 31, 2023 follows the rule set by AB 218 (2019). Under that rule, the deadline is age 40, or five years from when the survivor discovered or reasonably should have discovered that the abuse caused an injury, whichever is later. The guide to childhood sexual abuse covers this in more depth.

For assault that occurred at age 18 or older, Code of Civil Procedure § 340.16 allows the later of two dates. The first is 10 years from the last act. The second is three years from when the survivor discovered or reasonably should have discovered the resulting injury. Section 340.16 also revives certain adult claims that would otherwise be time-barred. This applies to assault occurring on or after January 1, 2009, and these claims may be filed until December 31, 2026. Claims already litigated to finality, or settled in writing, before January 1, 2023 are excluded. The statute of limitations guide explains how these deadlines interact.

Institutional records, surveillance video and HR files are often overwritten on routine schedules. An attorney can send a preservation demand letter, a formal notice telling an institution to keep specific records because a claim may follow.

If You Have Questions, Privately

Survivors of sexual abuse in California, whether as a child or as an adult, may have the right to pursue a civil claim. That claim may be against the person responsible, and in some cases against an institution that failed to protect the survivor. Through such a claim, a survivor may be able to seek compensation for emotional harm, therapy and medical costs, lost income, and other damages the law allows, along with the justice a civil case can seek. California has extended and revived filing deadlines, so options may exist even when the abuse happened many years ago.

A confidential case review with Justice for Survivors covers which deadline may apply, whether an institution could be responsible, and what evidence may already exist. The review is free, carries no obligation, and needs nothing organized in advance. For general legal information, the California Courts Self-Help Center and the State Bar's Lawyer Referral Service are also available.

To ask a private attorney what this means for a specific situation, Justice for Survivors can be reached at (866) 694-1630 for a confidential case review.