AB 830, as amended, Eggman. Civil actions: gender violence.
Existing law allows a person who has been subjected to gender violence to bring a civil action for damages against any responsible party and defines gender violence for this purpose as a crime of violence motivated by the gender of the victim or a physical intrusion or invasion of a sexual nature, as specified. The Unruh Civil Rights Act prohibits discrimination based on a person’s sex, race, religion, or sexual orientation, among others, and specifies that sex includes gender, which includes a person’s gender identity and gender expression.
This bill, for the purposes of the former provision, would expand the definition of gender violence to include violence committed at least in part based on the sexual orientation of the victim, as specified, and would specify that gender has the same meaning as in the Unruh Civil Rights Act.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: no. State-mandated local program: no.
The people of the State of California do enact as follows:
Section 52.4 of the Civil Code is amended to
2read:
(a) Any person who has been subjected to gender
4violence may bring a civil action for damages against any
5responsible party. The plaintiff may seek actual damages,
6compensatory damages, punitive damages, injunctive relief, any
7combination of those, or any other appropriate relief. A prevailing
8plaintiff may also be awarded attorney’s fees and costs.
9(b) An action brought pursuant to this section shall be
10commenced within three years of the act, or if the victim was a
11minor when the act occurred, within eight years after the date the
12plaintiff attains the age of majority or within three years after the
13date the plaintiff discovers or reasonably should
have discovered
14the psychological injury or illness occurring after the age of
15majority that was caused by the act, whichever date occurs later.
16(c) For purposes of this section, “genderbegin delete violence,”end deletebegin insert violence”end insert
17 is a form of sex discrimination and meansbegin delete anyend deletebegin insert eitherend insert of the
18following:
19(1) One or more acts that would constitute a criminal offense
20under state law that has as an element the use, attempted use, or
21threatened use of physical force against the
person or property of
22another, committed at least in part based on the genderbegin insert or sexual
23orientationend insert of the victim, whether or not those acts have resulted
24in criminal complaints, charges, prosecution, or conviction.
25(2) A physical intrusion or physical invasion of a sexual nature
26under coercive conditions, whether or not those acts have resulted
27in criminal complaints, charges, prosecution, or conviction.
28(3) Violence, as set forth in paragraph (1) or (2), committed at
29least in part based on the sexual orientation of the victim.
30(d) For purposes of this section, “gender” has the meaning set
31forth in Section 51.
32(e) Notwithstanding any other laws that may establish the
33liability of an employer for the acts of an employee, this section
34does not establish any civil liability of a person because of his or
35her status as an employer, unless the employer personally
36committed an act of gender violence.
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