Holding the institution accountable.

Abuse is never only one person's fault

Most abuse happens inside a structure. Someone hired the abuser, gave them access to children or patients or employees, and decided what to do when the first complaint came in. California law lets you hold that institution liable when it was negligent in hiring, supervising or retaining the person who hurt you, when it ignored warning signs it should have acted on, or when it moved the problem somewhere else instead of stopping it.

Teachers, coaches, clergy, doctors, therapists and many others are mandated reporters under California law. When they knew or reasonably suspected abuse and did not report it, that failure is itself a basis for liability. And when an organization ratified the conduct by protecting the abuser, discouraging complaints or destroying records, the law treats the cover-up as the institution's own wrongdoing, with heavier consequences to match.

That matters for a practical reason too. Individuals rarely have the means to pay for the harm they caused. Institutions and their insurers do.

Who we represent

• Survivors of abuse by clergy and religious institutions.
• Students abused by teachers, coaches and school staff.
• Children and teenagers abused in youth sports programs and camps.
• People abused in foster care, group homes and juvenile detention facilities.
• Patients abused by doctors, therapists and other medical providers.
• Customers of massage businesses, rideshare companies, hotels and other businesses that failed to protect them.
• Workers abused by employers and supervisors.
• Residents of nursing homes and care facilities, and the families who speak for them.

The deadlines, in plain terms

For childhood sexual assault, California Code of Civil Procedure section 340.1 allows a claim to be filed any time before the survivor turns 40, or within five years of discovering that an injury as an adult was caused by the abuse, whichever is later. For abuse that occurred on or after January 1, 2024, there is no deadline at all.

For sexual assault as an adult, section 340.16 allows ten years from the assault or three years from the date you discovered an injury or illness resulting from it. Separately, AB 2777 revived adult claims that would otherwise have been time-barred, for assaults on or after January 1, 2009, as long as the case is filed by December 31, 2026. That window is closing. If your claim depends on it, we need to talk now.

Claims against public schools, counties and other government bodies usually have to go through the government claims process first, which has its own short deadlines. Claims for childhood sexual assault are exempt from that claim-filing requirement, but claims for adult assault generally are not. The safe course is to call before you assume any deadline has passed.

What a case can recover

A civil case can recover the cost of medical care and therapy, past and future; lost earnings and lost earning capacity; and damages for the pain, fear and emotional harm you have carried. Where the institution's conduct was malicious or reckless, a jury can add punitive damages. And where an institution covered up the abuse, California law allows up to three times the damages it would otherwise owe.

Money does not undo what happened. It does pay for treatment, replace what the abuse took from your working life, and force an institution to answer for choices it made in private.

How we work with survivors

You set the pace. We will not push you to tell us more than you are ready to, and we will not move forward until you say so. One lawyer is your point of contact from the first call through trial, so you never have to tell your story to a stranger again.

You may bring the case as Jane Doe or John Doe, and we will ask the court to keep your identity out of the public record. We never contact a family member, an employer, a school or anyone else without your permission. The first conversation is free, confidential and carries no obligation. If you decide not to go forward, that is the end of it.

This page is general information about California law as of October 2026, not legal advice. Deadlines depend on facts we need to hear from you. Nothing here is a promise about what any claim is worth.