Senators Jim Beall and Ricardo Lara are lead authors of California Senate Bill 131 to amend California Code of Civil Procedure § 340.1 relating to childhood sexual abuse, statute of limitations and damages.
SB 131 proposes to extend the statute of limitations in limited instances for civil actions involving childhood sexual abuse, as follows:
- Would retroactively apply the current statute of limitations for the commencement of civil actions against third parties regarding recovery of damages suffered as a result of childhood sexual abuse, which is eight years after the plaintiff reaches majority (i.e., 26 years of age) or within three years of the date the plaintiff discovers or reasonably should have discovered that the psychological injury or illness occurring after the age of majority was caused by the abuse, whichever occurs later. Applies this retroactivity only to any claim that has not been adjudicated to finality on the merits as of January 1, 2014.
- Would revive for one year, beginning January 1, 2014, causes of action that would otherwise be barred solely by the statute of limitations as of January 1, 2014, provided that the plaintiff’s 26th birthday was before January 1, 2003, and the plaintiff discovered the cause of his or her injuries on or after January 1, 2004.
- Would provide that a plaintiff is entitled to conduct discovery before the court may rule on a motion challenging the sufficiency of the plaintiff’s showing regarding a third party’s knowledge or notice of any unlawful childhood sexual abuse and failure to take reasonable steps to prevent the abuse. Specifically states that this discovery rule does not apply to a cause of action revived by # 1) or 2), above.
In his Press Release, Senator Beall explained the objectives sought by passage of SB 131:
“We are seeing adults who were molested when they were children coming forward but unable to bring their abusers to justice because of the existing statute of limitations,’’ Senator Jim Beall said. “They are getting older but they are still suffering. They just want their day in court. I believe these survivors deserve that opportunity because the law should work to help the victims instead of protecting the pedophiles who sexually exploited them.’’
Currently this bill is still active and re-referred to the Senate Committee on Appropriations.
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