§ 25-228.Action by victim of sexual assault of a child; when.

Section 25-228 reflects a recognition that survivors of child sexual assault often can’t come forward for many years. For an action against the individual or individuals who directly caused the injury to a victim of a violation of section 28-319.01 or 28-320.01, the section removes any time limitation entirely — if the violation occurred on or after August 24, 2017, or if it occurred earlier but the claim wasn’t already time-barred as of that date.

Claims against someone other than the direct perpetrator — an institution or another person or entity that bears responsibility without having committed the assault itself — follow a different, bounded rule: those actions may only be brought within twelve years after the victim’s twenty-first birthday. That gives survivors well into adulthood to pursue claims against a responsible institution, even though it isn’t unlimited the way a claim against the direct perpetrator is.

The section removes one procedural hurdle that might otherwise complicate a survivor’s path to civil relief: a criminal prosecution of the defendant under section 28-319.01 or 28-320.01 is not required to maintain the civil action. A survivor can pursue civil relief whether or not a criminal case was ever brought or resulted in a conviction.