California lawmakers opened an unusual window in civil litigation when Gov. Gavin Newsom signed Assembly Bill 2777 on Sept. 19, 2022. Known as the Sexual Abuse and Cover Up Accountability Act, the law lets adult survivors of sexual assault sue not only the person who assaulted them but the business or organization that employed, enabled or concealed the abuser’s conduct. That second target, the institution itself, is what sets AB 2777 apart from older assault statutes, which typically confined liability to the individual perpetrator. The law reaches conduct occurring on or after Jan. 1, 2009, and claims must be filed by Dec. 31, 2026.
Eligibility turns on a short list of facts. The assault must have happened on or after Jan. 1, 2009, and the survivor must have been 18 or older at the time. A claim is barred if it was already settled in writing or carried to final judgment before Jan. 1, 2023. The institutions in scope include private employers, schools, colleges, hospitals, religious organizations, youth groups, sports programs and entertainment businesses. Government entities such as police departments and public schools fall outside AB 2777 and are governed instead by the Government Claims Act, which imposes its own notice deadlines and procedures.
The cover-up provision is where the statute does its heaviest lifting. California defines a cover-up broadly, covering any coordinated effort to hide evidence of abuse or silence the people who knew about it. Nondisclosure and confidentiality agreements fall within that definition, so a survivor who signed one may still have grounds to sue, and the law does not require a police report, criminal charges or a conviction as a precondition to a civil claim. Whether a particular NDA can be challenged, and what evidence supports a cover-up theory, are questions that turn on the specific paper trail in each case: internal emails, personnel records, prior complaints and witness accounts.
AB 2777 does not stand alone. Assembly Bill 218 extended the filing window for childhood sexual assault claims to age 40 or five years after discovering a related injury, and reopened expired claims through Dec. 31, 2022. Assembly Bill 452 eliminated the statute of limitations entirely for childhood sexual assault occurring on or after Jan. 1, 2024. Assembly Bill 250 reopens certain adult survivor claims through 2027. Because these statutes overlap and interact differently depending on the survivor’s age at the time of the abuse and the date it occurred, more than one of them may apply to the same set of facts.
None of this is a substitute for individualized legal advice, and readers should treat it as background rather than a roadmap for their own situation. The Dec. 31, 2026 deadline is fixed, but which statute applies, whether an institution qualifies as a defendant, whether a signed NDA can be set aside and how much time actually remains all depend on facts specific to each case. Most attorneys handling these claims work on contingency, meaning there is no upfront cost to a consultation. Anyone who believes they may have a claim under AB 2777 or a related statute should consult a qualified California attorney promptly, well before the deadline, to have their specific circumstances evaluated.