Judges and Judiciary
Jan. 6, 2023
‘Roes’ and ‘Does’ clog court dockets as attorneys raced to beat expiring sex assault law
The law permanently raised the age at which plaintiffs would need to file a special “certificates of merit” from 26 to 40. It also opened a temporary three-year window, from 2019 through 2022, for plaintiffs over 40, to file cases without meeting these requirements.
While Doe and Roe are common placeholders in civil cases in nearly any court around the nation, those names have rarely been used as much as they were in California state courts last month.
This is thanks to AB 218, a 2019 law that opened a three-year exception to the statute of limitations for victims of childhood sexual abuse. The law caused a rush of fresh cases, often labeled a “tsunami” in headlines. But plaintiffs’ attorneys specializ...
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