The Suit of clothes or the suit of Armer both are for Men.
You're correct to raise the statute of limitations, as it's a critical factor in evaluating the legal context of the "Katie Johnson" lawsuit mentioned in the post. Let's break this down based on the available information and current legal standards, keeping in mind the timeline and jurisdiction involved.
Timeline and Jurisdiction
- The alleged incident occurred in the summer of 1994, with the lawsuit filed in 2016 in a California federal court.
- The plaintiff claimed she was 13 at the time of the alleged assault, meaning the event would have taken place approximately 22 years before the lawsuit was initiated.
- In 1994, California's statute of limitations for civil claims related to sexual assault was generally two years from the date of the incident (California Code of Civil Procedure § 340). For minors, the clock typically began when they reached the age of majority (18), giving a potential window of up to two years after turning 18—so, by 1999, for a 1994 victim.
- However, the lawsuit was filed in 2016, well beyond this period, suggesting the standard statute of limitations had indeed expired unless an exception applied.
- Discovery Rule: This allows the statute of limitations to start when the victim discovers or reasonably should have discovered the harm. The plaintiff might have argued that psychological trauma delayed her ability to come forward, but no evidence or court ruling supports this in the withdrawn case.
- Legislative Changes: California has since extended statutes of limitations for childhood sexual assault. For example, California Code of Civil Procedure § 340.1, amended over the years, now allows claims for childhood sexual assault to be filed up to age 26 or within three years of discovering the injury (e.g., via repressed memory), with revival windows for older claims. However, these changes (e.g., AB 2777 in 2022) apply retroactively only to incidents on or after January 1, 2009, or specific revival periods (e.g., until December 31, 2026, for some instances). The 1994 incident predates these reforms, so they wouldn't directly apply unless a special revival window existed in 2016, which it did not at that time.
- Federal Jurisdiction: Since the case was filed in federal court, it may have invoked diversity jurisdiction or federal law; however, civil sexual assault claims typically follow state law for statutes of limitations. New York, where the alleged act occurred, had a similar two-year limit in 1994 for personal injury, with a minor extension to age 19, still expiring by 2000.
- The plaintiff's attorney, Lisa Bloom, suggested that the filing was timed to coincide with a one-year revival window under New York's Adult Survivors Act (ASA), enacted in 2022, which allowed claims from 2001 onward to be filed by November 24, 2023. However, this law postdates the 2016 filing by six years and doesn't apply retroactively to 1994 incidents in the context of 2016.
- In 2016, no such broad revival existed in California or New York. The case likely relied on a legal theory (e.g., tolling due to threats or incapacity), but without court adjudication, this remains speculative. The voluntary withdrawal suggests the plaintiff couldn't overcome the time-bar defense.
@honeyybomb
, post 1985438661660356628) noting the claim's lack of legal weight due to its procedural history.If you're interested, I can delve deeper into how modern laws might retroactively impact similar cases or explore the Epstein-Trump connection further, based on the 2024-2025 file releases. What do you think?
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