Opinion ID: 844211
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: At the Time of the Alleged Abuse Former Section 340 Applied

Text: In 1972 and 1973, when it is alleged that the abuse occurred, the applicable limitations period for claims alleging sexual abuse of a child was one year from the time the cause of action accrued (former § 340, par. 3, as amended by Stats. 1968, ch. 150, § 1, p. 373; DeRose v. Carswell (1987) 196 Cal.App.3d 1011, 1015, 1018 [242 Cal.Rptr. 368] ( DeRose )), and ordinarily the cause of action accrued at the time of the alleged abuse. ( John R. v. Oakland Unified School Dist. (1989) 48 Cal.3d 438, 443 [256 Cal.Rptr. 766, 769 P.2d 948]; see also Shirk v. Vista Unified School Dist. (2007) 42 Cal.4th 201, 210 [64 Cal.Rptr.3d 210, 164 P.3d 630] ( Shirk ).) For persons who were minors when the alleged abuse occurred, the limitations period was tolled until one year after the time the plaintiffs reached the age of majority, that is, until the age of 19. (§ 352, subd. (a); Hightower v. Roman Catholic Bishop of Sacramento (2006) 142 Cal.App.4th 759, 765 [48 Cal.Rptr.3d 420] ( Hightower ); Tietge v. Western Province of the Servites, Inc. (1997) 55 Cal.App.4th 382, 385 [64 Cal.Rptr.2d 53]; DeRose, supra, at p. 1015.) Thus the claim of the youngest of the plaintiffs, who was born in 1963, [4] lapsed in 1982 when he turned 19 years of age. At the time of the alleged abuse and subsequently there was some authority for applying the common law discovery rule under certain circumstances to delay the accrual of a cause of action based upon childhood sexual abuse. [5] As we shall see, however, even if this authority were applied to third party defendants it would not assist plaintiffs' claim that accrual of their cause of action was delayed until they discovered that their adult injuries were caused by the childhood abuse. This is because ultimately the Legislature substituted its own rules for the common law discovery rule, and in 1998 restricted claims against third parties to plaintiffs who had not yet reached the age of 26even if they could allege a delay in discovery that their adult psychological injuries were caused by childhood abuse.