Doe

John Doe (plaintiff) appeals an order denying his petition, brought under Government Code section 946.6, in which he sought leave to file a late tort claim against the Bakersfield City School District (the District) based on allegations of continuous sexual abuse by his former junior high school guidance counselor. According to the evidence plaintiff presented in support of his petition, the sexual abuse began in 1993, when plaintiff was 13 years old, continued through plaintiff’s high school years, and did not end until 2000 or 2001, when plaintiff was 19 or 20 years old. Throughout this seven-to-eight-year period, the counselor made ongoing threats to publicly humiliate plaintiff if he ever disclosed the molestation.

In support of his petition, plaintiff argued the District should be equitably estopped from asserting his noncompliance with the claims-presentation requirements as a defense. He based his argument on evidence that the counselor’s threats deterred him from filing a timely government tort claim and that the deterrent effect of the threats was still operating on him until shortly before he filed his section 946.6 petition. In denying plaintiff’s petition,…