California Adult Survivors Act: Revival Windows, NDAs, Filing

The California Adult Survivors Act is a state law that reopened the civil courthouse to adults whose sexual assault claims had been blocked by expired filing deadlines. Its most important remaining provision revives claims for assaults that occurred on or after January 1, 2009, and lets survivors file them until December 31, 2026. A broader one-year window that covered older claims ran through 2023 and has already closed. If you were assaulted as an adult on or after that 2009 date and never sued, 2026 is likely your last chance.

Which Assaults the Law Covers

The act applies to civil lawsuits for money damages based on a sexual assault committed against someone who was at least 18 at the time. “Sexual assault” tracks specific crimes in the California Penal Code, including rape, sexual battery, sodomy, oral copulation committed by force, and sexual penetration by a foreign object.¹

You do not need a criminal conviction to sue. Civil cases use a lower standard of proof than criminal prosecutions, so the fact that charges were never filed, were dropped, or ended in acquittal does not bar a civil claim.

California’s Civil Code separately defines sexual battery as acting with intent to cause harmful or offensive contact with an intimate part of another person when sexually offensive contact results. “Intimate part” covers the sexual organ, anus, groin, buttocks, or a female’s breast. The definition also reaches removal of a condom without verbal consent during a sexual act.²

The Two Revival Windows

The act created two separate revival windows. One is still open; the other has closed.

The Open Window: Assaults On or After January 1, 2009

Any civil claim arising from a sexual assault that occurred on or after January 1, 2009, and that would otherwise be time-barred, is revived and may be filed until December 31, 2026. The assault does not need to have happened recently. It just needs to fall on or after that cutoff date.¹

The Closed Window: The 2023 Lookback Year

A broader one-year window ran from January 1, 2023, through December 31, 2023. During that year, any adult survivor could file for sexual assault regardless of when it happened, even if the deadline had long expired. That window is gone. If an assault occurred before January 1, 2009, and no claim was filed during 2023, the act no longer offers a path to court.¹

What Revival Does Not Reach

Neither window revives a claim that was already litigated to a final judgment before January 1, 2023, or one resolved through a written settlement signed before that date. A prior settlement with the perpetrator or the institution closes the door, even if the amount felt inadequate at the time.¹

Who You Can Sue

The individual who committed the assault is the obvious defendant, but the act’s real reach is against institutions.

Employers, religious organizations, schools, and other entities can be held liable when they were negligent in hiring, supervising, or retaining someone they knew or should have known posed a risk. California has long recognized that an organization owes a duty when it employs someone it knows is dangerous.³

The act goes further by targeting cover-ups. It defines a cover-up as a coordinated effort to hide evidence of a sexual assault in a way that pressures people to stay silent or keeps information from reaching the public or the survivor. Using non-disclosure agreements and confidentiality clauses to bury allegations fits squarely within this definition, and an entity that did so can face liability on that basis.⁴

What You Can Recover

California does not cap damages in sexual abuse cases. A successful claim can recover three categories.

Economic damages. Therapy and medical costs, prescriptions, lost income, and reduced future earning capacity, documented with records and receipts.
Non-economic damages. Pain and suffering, emotional distress, loss of enjoyment of life, and harm to personal relationships. Testimony from the survivor, therapists, and people close to them establishes these losses.
Punitive damages. Awarded for particularly egregious conduct, and requiring clear and convincing evidence of malice, oppression, or fraud. To hold an employer liable for punitive damages based on an employee’s acts, the survivor must show that an officer, director, or managing agent knew of the employee’s unfitness and consciously disregarded the danger, or authorized or ratified the wrongful conduct.⁵

Settlements and judgments are not uniformly tax-free. Damages for personal physical injuries are generally excluded from federal gross income, but amounts attributable to emotional distress alone, and all punitive damages, are taxable. How a settlement allocates the money between these categories affects the tax bill, so a tax professional should review any proposed agreement before you sign.⁶

If You Signed an NDA

A non-disclosure agreement signed before any incident occurred generally cannot stop you from pursuing a sexual assault claim. The federal Speak Out Act, signed in December 2022, makes predispute NDAs and non-disparagement clauses judicially unenforceable when the dispute involves sexual assault or harassment.⁷ California’s STAND Act (SB 820) separately bars settlement agreements from including confidentiality provisions that prevent disclosure of the underlying facts of sexual assault, harassment, or sex discrimination claims. A survivor can still ask for confidentiality; an institution cannot demand silence as a settlement condition.

An NDA you signed as part of resolving a prior claim is a different matter and may still be enforceable. If this applies to you, raise it with an attorney before filing.

Filing Without Making Your Name Public

Filing a lawsuit does not require making your identity public. California law allows plaintiffs in certain civil cases involving sexual conduct to proceed under a pseudonym such as “Jane Doe” or “John Doe” and to redact identifying details from court filings. When the court grants this, all decisions, orders, and filings are worded to protect the plaintiff’s identity, and the parties and their attorneys handle the redactions.

Even outside that specific provision, courts can allow anonymous filing when a plaintiff’s privacy interests substantially outweigh the public’s interest in open proceedings. Sexual assault cases routinely meet this standard because the litigation requires disclosing deeply personal information.

During discovery, defendants often seek mental health records. Courts act as gatekeepers, frequently reviewing sensitive records privately before deciding what the defendant may see. Signing a release for records to go to police during a criminal investigation does not automatically waive your right to shield those records from a civil defendant.

How to File

Gather What You Have

Strong claims are built on specifics, but you do not need every document before you file. Filing starts the process, and discovery compels the other side to produce their records. Pull together what you can:

Dates and locations of the assault, as precisely as you can recall; approximate dates are acceptable when exact ones are not available.
Full names of the perpetrator and any organizations that employed, supervised, or protected them.
Medical and therapy records, including any psychological evaluations documenting PTSD, anxiety, depression, or related conditions.
Receipts for therapy and medical bills, and documentation of lost wages or reduced earning capacity.
Emails, texts, or letters involving the perpetrator, the institution, or anyone who witnessed the aftermath. Messages suggesting an organization knew and did nothing are especially valuable for cover-up claims.

File the Complaint

The lawsuit begins when you file a complaint with the Superior Court clerk in the county where the assault occurred or where the defendant resides. The statewide filing fee for an unlimited civil case is $435, with a small construction surcharge added in Riverside, San Bernardino, and San Francisco counties.⁸

If you cannot afford the fee, California offers waivers for people who receive certain public benefits, qualify as low-income, or lack enough income to cover basic needs and court costs. Apply with Form FW-001 at the time you file.⁹

Serve the Defendant

After the court accepts your complaint, you must formally deliver copies of the summons and complaint to each defendant. California requires someone other than you to handle delivery, typically a professional process server or any adult who is not a party to the case. The defendant then has 30 days from service to file a written response or a motion to dismiss.¹⁰

Deadlines for Future Claims

Separate from the revival windows, the act set a new baseline for sexual assault claims going forward. You have whichever is longer: 10 years from the date of the last assault or attempted assault, or 3 years from the date you discover (or reasonably should have discovered) that an injury or illness resulted from the assault.¹

The discovery rule matters because many survivors do not connect physical or psychological symptoms to a past assault until years later. The current rule gives the later of the two deadlines, not the earlier one. For revived claims, though, the governing date is December 31, 2026, and that one does not move.

1
California Legislative Information. California Code of Civil Procedure 340.16
2
California Legislative Information. California Civil Code 1708.5
3
Justia. CACI No. 426 – Negligent Hiring, Supervision, or Retention of Employee
4
California Legislative Information. California Code of Civil Procedure 340.16
5
Justia Law. California Civil Code 3294 – Exemplary Damages
6
Internal Revenue Service. Tax Implications of Settlements and Judgments
7
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 42 USC Chapter 164 – Speak Out Act
8
Judicial Council of California. Statewide Civil Fee Schedule
9
California Courts. Request to Waive Court Fees (FW-001)
10
Judicial Council of California. Judicial Council of California Form SUM-100 – Summons