South Florida Injury Lawyer Blog
Certain Florida child sexual abuse civil claims will have a much shorter statute of limitations than some appellate courts had previously ruled due to a new decision by the Florida Supreme Court. The case involved a conflict among lower Florida courts about the accrual of civil claims for sexual abuse.
Almost every kind of legal action in Florida – whether it’s prosecution for a crime or a civil claim for monetary damages – is subject to a time limit on how long you have to file. For example, most Florida personal injury claims must be filed within four years of the date the injury occurred. For medical malpractice, it’s two years. There are some exceptions, but courts are pretty strict on this.
As our West Palm Beach sexual abuse lawyers can explain, a civil claim usually “accrues” (meaning the clock for the statute of limitations starts ticking) at the time the incident occurs. However, there are some kinds of claims for which the statute of limitations won’t accrue for a delayed period of time. One of those – sometimes – is child sex abuse cases. Continue reading