CA SB 577

Title: State Government.
Author: Benjamin J. Allen

Summary
SB 577, as amended, Laird. State Government. (1) Existing law authorizes a trial court to order a party, the party’s attorney, or both, to pay the reasonable expense incurred by another party as a result of bad-faith actions or tactics, as defined. Existing law provides the court may also award sanctions, as specified. Existing law provides that where the bad faith actions or tactics involve the filing of a pleading that can be withdrawn or corrected, the filing party shall be provided 21 days in order to do so, prior to award of sanctions against the filing party, as specified.This bill would provide that bad-faith actions or tactics used on or after January 1, 2026, in certain civil actions against public entities, do not benefit from the 21-day safe harbor period to withdraw or correct the bad-faith filings prior to the award of sanctions.(1)(2) Existing law requires that specified actions for recovery of damages suffered as a result of childhood sexual assault that occurred before January 1, 2024 be commenced within 22 years of the date the plaintiff attains the age of majority or within 5 years of the date the plaintiff discovers or reasonably should have discovered that psychological injury or illness occurring after the age of majority was caused by the sexual assault, whichever period expires later. Existing law provides that there is no time limit for commencement of such actions for recovery of damages suffered as a result of childhood sexual assault which occurred on or after January 1, 2024. Actions subject to these time limits include actions for liability against any person or entity who owed a duty of care to the plaintiff and an action for liability against any person or entity for an intentional act that was the legal cause of the childhood sexual assault. Existing law provides that in actions against entities for violation of a duty of care, the plaintiff must establish that the entity acted wrongfully or negligently.This bill would prohibit a plaintiff from refiling an action of the type described above that was dismissed without prejudice if more than 5 years have passed since the filing date of the dismissed action.This bill would shorten the amount of time a victim of childhood sexual assault that occurred before January 1, 2024 would have to file a specified action to 22 years from the date the plaintiff attains the age of majority or within 3 years of the date the plaintiff discovers or reasonably should have discovered that psychological injury or illness occurring after the age of majority was caused by the sexual assault, whichever period expires later. This bill would, for actions filed on or after April 15, 2025, against a public entity by a plaintiff who is 40 years of age or older, increase the standard of liability to gross negligence. For all cases against a public entity filed on or after April 15, 2025, this bill would provide factors that courts must consider when reviewing motions for remittitur and would authorize a court to structure judgments against public entities so that they could be paid over time.This bill would require all cases filed by victims of childhood sexual assault that occurred at the MacLaren Children’s Center or any juvenile probation facility or detention center operated by the Los Angeles County Probation Department that was closed before or on January 1, 2020, be filed on or before January 1, 2026. This bill specifies that the procedural requirements that typically apply to such causes of action, including the requirement that plaintiffs who file their claims at the age of 40 or greater file a certificate of merit, as specified, also apply to these specific cases. This bill would require that in these cases, certificates of merit along with additional information shall be provided to a court-appointed special master. This bill would prohibit a special master from distributing funds pursuant to a settlement agreement until all of those requirements have been satisfied

Status
May 12 hearing: Placed on APPR. suspense file.

Bill Documents
CA SB 577 - 04/28/25 - Amended Senate
04/28/25 - CA SB 577 (04/28/25 - Amended Senate)