K.J. v. Roman Catholic Archbishop etc. 4/10/09 CA3

State: California

Court: 1st District Court of Appeal 1st District Court of Appeal

Docket No: C058034

Case Date: 06/25/2009

Preview:Filed 4/10/09

CERTIFIED FOR PUBLICATION

IN THE COURT OF APPEAL OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA THIRD APPELLATE DISTRICT (San Joaquin) ---K.J., Plaintiff and Appellant, v. THE ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOP OF STOCKTON, Defendant and Respondent. C058034 (Super. Ct. No. CV032693)

APPEAL from a judgment of the Superior Court of San Joaquin County, Elizabeth Humphreys, Judge. Affirmed. Manly & Stewart, John C. Manley and Vince W. Finaldi for Plaintiff and Appellant. Zalkin & Zimmer, Irwin M. Zalkin, Michael H. Zimmer, Devin M. Storey and Michael J. Kinslow for K.J. as Amicus Curiae on behalf of Plaintiff and Appellant. Neumiller & Beardslee, Paul N. Balestracci and Lisa Blanco Jimenez for Defendant and Respondent. This case requires us to unravel the many changes and revisions to Code of Civil Procedure section 340.1,1 a special

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Undesignated statutory references are to the Code of Civil Procedure. 1

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. 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 established a new outer date for bringing these types of claims, to wit: "within three years of the date the plaintiff

discovers or reasonably should have discovered that psychological injury or illness occurring after the age of majority was caused by the sexual abuse . . . ." subd. (a).) (

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