§ 25-21,292.Civil action authorized; recovery; attorney's fees and costs; injunctive relief.

Section 25-21,292 is the core of the Exploited Children’s Civil Remedy Act. A participant or portrayed observer in a visual depiction of sexually explicit conduct — or that child’s parent or legal guardian — who suffered or continues to suffer personal or psychological injury from the participation or observation may sue any person who knowingly and willfully created, distributed, or actively acquired the depiction while in Nebraska, or who aided or assisted with its creation, distribution, or active acquisition while that person, or the person being aided, was in Nebraska.

A plaintiff who prevails recovers actual damages, which the statute deems to be no less than $150,000, along with all attorney’s fees and costs reasonably tied to the case. The court may also grant temporary, preliminary, and permanent injunctive relief on top of those damages, whatever it finds necessary and appropriate.

The section narrows the cause of action in one respect and closes it off entirely for certain defendants. It does not create a claim where the participant was sixteen or older when the depiction was made and willfully and voluntarily took part in creating it. And it exempts several categories of defendants from civil liability under the act altogether: a law enforcement officer engaged in law enforcement duties, a governmental entity, a provider of interactive computer service, a provider of telecommunications service, and a cable operator.