Litigation
Cal. Litig. MAY 2024, VOLUME 37, ISSUE 1
Content
- 2023 Year-end Report On the Federal Judiciary
- A Day Without a Court Reporter
- Ai - Use With Caution
- Editor's Foreword: No Waiting: Litigaition Is Here!
- Editor's Foreword: No Waiting: Litigation Is Here!
- From the Section Chair Our 2024 Hall of Fame Inductions, Including Our Trial Lawyer Hall of Fame 30Th Anniversary Reception and Event
- Interview With United States District Judge Troy L. Nunley
- PAST SECTION CHAIRS & EDITORS-IN-CHIEF
- Reporting Another Lawyer's Professional Misconduct: Implications For California Lawyers
- SECTION OFFICERS & EDITORIAL BOARD
- Table of Contents
- What Will Artificial Intelligence Mean For Litigation?
- Whither Chevron? the Past, Present, and Possible Futures of Judicial Deference
- Why Black Box Ai Evidence Should Not Be Allowed In Criminal Cases
- Working: Conversations With Essential Workers Behind the Scenes In the Court System
- Navigating the New Legal Landscape For Child Sexual Abuse Civil Litigation In State and Federal Court
NAVIGATING THE NEW LEGAL LANDSCAPE FOR CHILD SEXUAL ABUSE CIVIL LITIGATION IN STATE AND FEDERAL COURT
Written by Bill Slomanson*
INTRODUCTION
Too many childhood sexual abuse (CSA) perpetrators have escaped punishment. But an increasing number of survivors are filing civil lawsuits against their abusers, seeking monetary compensation for their injuries. These victims often suffer severe psychological and emotional damage. The repercussions are often suppressed until well after they become adults. Many of their defense mechanisms repress their memory of the abuse for years past adulthood. (Gordon, Adult Survivors of Childhood Sexual Abuse and the Statute of Limitations: The Need for Consistent Application of the Delayed Discovery Rule (1993) 20 Pepp. L.Rev. 1359.) State and federal legislatures have responded by eliminating the statute of limitations (SOL) for CSA. As noted by California’s cosponsor of the 2024 legislation: "There is an epidemic of child sexual abuse, with 13.5 percent of children at risk of being sexually assaulted before their 18th birthday, many repeatedly. Society must protect children through statutes of limitations reform … There is a national movement sweeping across the country to reform our laws, with many jurisdictions passing elimination, extension and revival legislation for child sexual abuse claims. These are not typical torts, and they demand an atypical response. Bravo to California for acting once again to protect children and honor justice." (Skinner, Addis and Skinner Introduce Bill to End Civil Statute of Limitations for Child Sexual Abuse (Feb. 6, 2023) [as of Feb. 12, 2024].)
At the federal level, Congress prospectively eliminated the SOL for federal child sexual abuse lawsuits with the passage of the 2022 law entitled Eliminating Limits to Justice For Child Sex Abuse Victims. (18 U.S.C. § 2255.) In 2024, California followed suit, adopting the Childhood Sexual Assault Act, which prospectively eliminated the statute of limitations. (Code Civ. Proc., § 340.1.) As aptly noted by a prominent California litigator: "These [two] laws were modified due to research and data that helps explain the varied mindset of abuse victims and why it may take years for a survivor to come forward with a claim." (Schreiber, New Laws and Trends Impacting Sex Abuse Cases in 2024, Daily J. (Dec. 20, 2023) p. 4.)