California Government Code 945.9 – (a) A claim arising out of an alleged sexual assault by a law …
(a) A claim arising out of an alleged sexual assault by a law enforcement officer if the alleged assault occurred while the officer was employed by a law enforcement agency is exempted from all state and local government claim presentation requirements.
(b) Notwithstanding any other law, the time for commencement of a claim seeking to recover damages arising out of an alleged sexual assault by a law enforcement officer, if the alleged sexual assault occurred on or after the plaintiff‘s 18th birthday and while the officer was employed by a law enforcement agency, shall be the later of either of the following dates:
Terms Used In California Government Code 945.9
- Allegation: something that someone says happened.
- Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
- Plaintiff: The person who files the complaint in a civil lawsuit.
- Settlement: Parties to a lawsuit resolve their difference without having a trial. Settlements often involve the payment of compensation by one party in satisfaction of the other party's claims.
- State: means the State of California, unless applied to the different parts of the United States. See California Government Code 18
- Statute of limitations: A law that sets the time within which parties must take action to enforce their rights.
- Subdivision: means a subdivision of the section in which the term occurs unless some other section is expressly mentioned. See California Government Code 10
(1) Within 10 years after the date of judgment against a law enforcement officer in a criminal case for a crime of sexual assault or a judgment against a law enforcement officer for a different crime if a crime of sexual assault was alleged and the crime for which there was a judgment against a law enforcement officer arose out of the same set of operative facts as the allegation of sexual assault in the present claim.
(2) Within 10 years after the law enforcement officer is no longer employed by the law enforcement agency that employed the officer when the alleged sexual assault occurred.
(c) Notwithstanding subdivision (b), a claim seeking to recover damages arising out of an alleged sexual assault by a law enforcement officer, if the alleged sexual assault occurred on or after the plaintiff’s 18th birthday and while the officer was employed by a law enforcement agency, that has not been litigated to finality or compromised by an executed written settlement agreement and that would otherwise be barred because the applicable statute of limitations, any state or local government claim presentation deadline, or any other applicable time limit has expired, is hereby revived and may be commenced if filed within either of the following periods of time:
(1) Ten years from the date of the last act, attempted act, or assault with the intent to commit an act, of sexual assault against the plaintiff.
(2) Three years from the date the plaintiff discovers or reasonably should have discovered that an injury or illness resulted from an act, attempted act, or assault with the intent to commit an act, of sexual assault against the plaintiff.
(d) As used in this section, “sexual assault” means any of the crimes described in Section 243.4, 261, 262, 264.1, 286, 287, or 289, or former Section 288a, of the Penal Code, assault with the intent to commit any of those crimes, or an attempt to commit any of those crimes.
(Added by Stats. 2021, Ch. 595, Sec. 1. (AB 1455) Effective January 1, 2022.)