CALIFORNIA CHILD SEXUAL ABUSE INJURIES: What is the California statute of limitations for legal action for a minor child sexually abused and thereby suffering injuries?

Special Statute of Limitations with Sexual Abuse in the State of California

Generally speaking, any California legal action for an injury to a minor child, either physical or mental, is tolled until his or her eighteenth birthday; meaning that a lawsuit or settlement needs to happen within two years from the date the minor child turns eighteen. However, allegations of sexual abuse while a person was a minor child are subject to a special timeframe for legal action in California. In a legal action for a person over the age of eighteen to recover for sexual abuse that happened while he or she was a minor child, the time for the commencement of the legal action shall be within eight years of the date the person attains the age of majority (eighteen years old) or within three years of the date the person discovers or reasonably should have discovered that psychological injury or illness occurring after the age of eighteen was caused by the sexual abuse, whichever period expires later.