L.A. Unified School Dist. v. Super. Ct.

Opinion of the Court by Guerrero, C. J.

Some statutory schemes provide for the recovery of treble damages, meaning that actual compensatory damages awarded to a prevailing plaintiff are multiplied by three. Here we consider a statute that, as recently amended by the Legislature, provides for up to treble damages when a plaintiff suing in tort for childhood sexual assault proves that the assault “was as the result of a cover up” (Code Civ. Proc., § 340.1, subd. (b)(1) (hereinafter sometimes referred to as section 340.1(b)(1))) by the defendant, with a “ ‘cover up’ ” being defined as “a concerted effort to hide evidence relating to childhood sexual assault” (id., subd. (b)(2)). The specific issue before us is whether enhanced damages can be awarded under section 340.1(b)(1) against a public entity named as a defendant in a lawsuit for childhood sexual assault, or whether such awards are prohibited under Government Code section 818 (hereinafter sometimes referred to as section 818), a provision within the Government Claims Act (Gov. Code, § 810 et seq.), which specifies in relevant part that a public entity may not be held liable in tort for “damages imposed primarily for the sake…