KJ

This case requires us to unravel the many changes and revisions to Code of Civil Procedure section 340.1, [1] a special statute of limitations governing claims by victims of childhood sexual abuse.

Plaintiff K.J. (suing under the fictitious name of "John K.J. Doe") alleges he was sexually abused and molested by "Doe 4," an unnamed priest and agent of defendant the Roman Catholic Bishop of Stockton (the Bishop), when plaintiff was between seven and 11 years of age. According to the complaint, the Bishop condoned the misconduct and protected Doe 4, despite actual or constructive knowledge that the priest was a chronic child molester.

Plaintiff, now well into middle age, alleges he "immediately repressed" all memory of the acts of molestation at the time they occurred. Only in June 2004, 33 years after the last molestation occurred, did plaintiff begin remembering the sexual abuse perpetrated upon him by Doe 4, when he connected it to his current psychological problems.

(1) In 2002, when the Legislature amended section 340.1 by opening up a one-year "revival window" for bringing time-barred childhood sexual abuse claims against third party defendants, it also…