California Supreme Court Watch

#21-437 Los Angeles Unified School Dist. v. Superior Court, S269608. (B307389; 64 Cal.App.5th 549; Los Angeles County Superior Court; BC659059.) Petition for review after the Court of Appeal granted a petition for writ of mandate. This case presents the following issue: Does Government Code section 818, which bars punitive damages against government defendants, preclude recovery under Code of Civil Procedure section 340.1, subdivision (b), which permits an award of up to treble damages after a child is sexually abused as a result of a cover up?

Review granted: 9/01/2021

Opinion filed: Judgment affirmed in full: 6/01/2023

See the Court of Appeal Opinion.

See the Petition for Review.

See the Oral Argument.

In the news:  Treble Damages Against Public Entity Are Barred—S.C., Metropolitan News-Enterprise (June 2, 2023).

See the California Supreme Court Opinion.  (Los Angeles Unified School District v. Superior Court (2023) 14 Cal.5th 758.)

“Some statutory schemes provide for the recovery of treble damages, meaning that actual compensatory damages awarded to a prevailing plaintiff are multiplied by three. Here we consider a statute that, as recently amended by the Legislature, provides for up to treble damages when a plaintiff suing in tort for childhood sexual assault proves that the assault ‘was as the result of a cover up’ (Code Civ. Proc., § 340.1, subd. (b)(1) … by the defendant, with a “‘cover up'” being defined as ‘a concerted effort to hide evidence relating to childhood sexual assault’ (id., subd. (b)(2)). The specific issue before us is whether enhanced damages can be awarded under section 340.1(b)(1) against a public entity named as a defendant in a lawsuit for childhood sexual assault, or whether such awards are prohibited under Government Code section 818 …, a provision within the Government Claims Act (Gov. Code, § 810 et seq.), which specifies in relevant part that a public entity may not be held liable in tort for ‘damages imposed primarily for the sake of example and by way of punishing the defendant.’ (§ 818.)

The Court of Appeal below determined that section 818 shields public entities from liability for enhanced damages under section 340.1(b)(1). Based on our review of both provisions, we agree with the Court of Appeal. We therefore affirm the judgment.”

Chief Justice Guerrero authored the opinion of the Court, in which Justices Corrigan, Liu, Kruger, Groban, Jenkins, and Evans concurred.