BILL NUMBER: AB 353 INTRODUCED
BILL TEXT
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Charles Calderon
FEBRUARY 19, 2009
An act to amend Sections 338 and 340 of the Code of Civil
Procedure, relating to civil actions.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 353, as introduced, Charles Calderon. Civil actions: statute of
limitations.
Existing law requires that a civil action for relief on the ground
of libel or slander be commenced within one year.
This bill would provide that a civil action for relief on the
ground of libel or slander shall be commenced within 3 years.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: no.
State-mandated local program: no.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. Section 338 of the Code of Civil Procedure is amended
to read:
338. Within three years:
(a) An action upon a liability created by statute, other than a
penalty or forfeiture.
(b) An action for trespass upon or injury to real property.
(c) An action for taking, detaining, or injuring any goods or
chattels, including actions for the specific recovery of personal
property. The cause of action in the case of theft, as defined in
Section 484 of the Penal Code, of any article of historical,
interpretive, scientific, or artistic significance is not deemed to
have accrued until the discovery of the whereabouts of the article by
the aggrieved party, his or her agent, or the law enforcement agency
that originally investigated the theft.
(d) An action for relief on the ground of fraud or mistake. The
cause of action in that case is not deemed to have accrued until the
discovery, by the aggrieved party, of the facts constituting the
fraud or mistake.
(e) An action upon a bond of a public official except any cause of
action based on fraud or embezzlement is not deemed to have accrued
until the discovery, by the aggrieved party or his or her agent, of
the facts constituting the cause of action upon the bond.
(f) (1) An action against a notary public on his or her bond or in
his or her official capacity except that any cause of action based
on malfeasance or misfeasance is not deemed to have accrued until
discovery, by the aggrieved party or his or her agent, of the facts
constituting the cause of action.
(2) Notwithstanding paragraph (1), an action based on malfeasance
or misfeasance shall be commenced within one year from discovery, by
the aggrieved party or his or her agent, of the facts constituting
the cause of action or within three years from the performance of the
notarial act giving rise to the action, whichever is later.
(3) Notwithstanding paragraph (1), an action against a notary
public on his or her bond or in his or her official capacity shall be
commenced within six years.
(g) An action for slander of title to real property.
(h) An action commenced under Section 17536 of the Business and
Professions Code. The cause of action in that case shall not be
deemed to have accrued until the discovery by the aggrieved party,
the Attorney General, the district attorney, the county counsel, the
city prosecutor, or the city attorney of the facts constituting
grounds for commencing the action.
(i) An action commenced under the Porter-Cologne Water Quality
Control Act (Division 7 (commencing with Section 13000) of the Water
Code). The cause of action in that case shall not be deemed to have
accrued until the discovery by the State Water Resources Control
Board or a regional water quality control board of the facts
constituting grounds for commencing actions under their jurisdiction.
(j) An action to recover for physical damage to private property
under Section 19 of Article I of the California Constitution.
(k) An action commenced under Division 26 (commencing with Section
39000) of the Health and Safety Code. These causes of action shall
not be deemed to have accrued until the discovery by the State Air
Resources Board or by a district, as defined in Section 39025 of the
Health and Safety Code, of the facts constituting grounds for
commencing the action under its jurisdiction.
() An action commenced under Section 1603.1, 1615, or 5650.1 of
the Fish and Game Code. These causes of action shall not be deemed to
have accrued until discovery by the agency bringing the action of
the facts constituting the grounds for commencing the action.
(m) An action challenging the validity of the levy upon a parcel
of a special tax levied by a local agency on a per parcel basis.
(n) An action commencing under Section 51.7 of the Civil Code.
(o) An action for libel or slander.
SEC. 2. Section 340 of the Code of Civil Procedure is amended to
read:
340. Within one year:
(a) An action upon a statute for a penalty or forfeiture, if the
action is given to an individual, or to an individual and the state,
except if the statute imposing it prescribes a different limitation.
(b) An action upon a statute for a forfeiture or penalty to the
people of this state.
(c) An action for libel, slander, false
imprisonment, seduction of a person below the age of legal consent,
or by a depositor against a bank for the payment of a forged or
raised check, or a check that bears a forged or unauthorized
endorsement, or against any person who boards or feeds an animal or
fowl or who engages in the practice of veterinary medicine as defined
in Section 4826 of the Business and Professions Code, for that
person's neglect resulting in injury or death to an animal or fowl in
the course of boarding or feeding the animal or fowl or in the
course of the practice of veterinary medicine on that animal or fowl.
(d) An action against an officer to recover damages for the
seizure of any property for a statutory forfeiture to the state, or
for the detention of, or injury to property so seized, or for damages
done to any person in making that seizure.
(e) An action by a good faith improver for relief under Chapter 10
(commencing with Section 871.1) of Title 10 of Part 2. The time
begins to run from the date upon which the good faith improver
discovers that the good faith improver is not the owner of the land
upon which the improvements have been made.