SB 14, as introduced, Lara. Nonconsensual sexual intercourse: sexual history: minors.
Under existing criminal law, unlawful sexual intercourse is an act of sexual intercourse accomplished with a person who is not the spouse of the perpetrator, if the person is under 18 years of age. Existing civil law makes a person who commits a sexual battery, as defined, upon another liable to that person for damages and authorizes a court to award equitable relief, as specified.
This bill would, under civil law, define nonconsensual sexual intercourse as an act of sexual intercourse between an adult and a person who is not the spouse of the adult, if the person is under 18 years of age.
Under existing law, in any civil action alleging conduct which constitutes sexual harassment, sexual assault, or sexual battery, opinion evidence, reputation evidence, and evidence of specific instances of plaintiff’s sexual conduct, or any of that evidence, is not admissible by the defendant in order to prove consent by the plaintiff or the absence of injury to the plaintiff. Under existing case law, the elements of a civil cause of action for negligence are the existence of a duty (the obligation to other persons to conform to a standard of care to avoid unreasonable risk of harm to them); breach of that duty (conduct below the standard of care); causation (between the defendant’s act or omission and the plaintiff’s injuries); and damages.
This bill would, in any negligence civil action, prohibit the admissibility of any evidence of a minor plaintiff’s sexual history by the defendant in order to prove consent by the minor plaintiff.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: no. State-mandated local program: no.
The people of the State of California do enact as follows:
Section 1708.5.5 is added to the Civil Code, to
2read:
Nonconsensual sexual intercourse is an act of sexual
4intercourse between an adult and a person who is not the spouse
5of the adult, if the person is a minor. For purposes of this section,
6a “minor” is a person who is under 18 years of age and an “adult”
7is a person who is at least 18 years of age.
Section 1106 of the Evidence Code is amended to read:
(a) begin insert(1)end insertbegin insert end insert In any civil action alleging conduct which
10constitutes sexual harassment, sexual assault, or sexual battery,
11opinion evidence, reputation evidence, and evidence of specific
12instances of plaintiff’s sexual conduct, or any ofbegin delete suchend deletebegin insert thatend insert evidence,
13is not admissible by the defendant in order to prove consent by the
14plaintiff or the absence of injury to the
plaintiff, unless the injury
15alleged by the plaintiff is in the nature of loss of consortium.
16(2) Notwithstanding any other law, in any negligence civil
17action, no evidence of a minor plaintiff’s sexual history is
18admissible by the defendant in order to prove consent by the
19plaintiff. For purposes of this paragraph, a “minor” is a person
20who is under 18 years of age.
21(b) begin deleteSubdivision end deletebegin insertParagraphend insertbegin insert (1) of subdivision end insert(a) shall not be
22applicable to evidence of the plaintiff’s sexual
conduct with the
23alleged perpetrator.
24(c) If the plaintiff introduces evidence, including testimony of
25a witness, or the plaintiff as a witness gives testimony, and the
26evidence or testimony relates to the plaintiff’s sexual conduct, the
27defendant may cross-examine the witness who gives the testimony
28and offer relevant evidence limited specifically to the rebuttal of
29the evidence introduced by the plaintiff or given by the plaintiff.
P3 1(d) begin deleteNothing end deletebegin insertExcept as provided in paragraph (2), nothing end insertin
2this section shall be construed to make inadmissible any evidence
3offered to attack the credibility of the plaintiff as provided in
4Section 783.
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