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Usually there are two civil claims, not one, and they carry different deadlines. The claim against the person who committed the assault has a five year period for most adult offenses and thirty years for offenses against a child. The claim against a hotel, apartment complex, business or institution whose negligence allowed it to happen is an ordinary negligence claim, and the standard limitations period for that is two years.
That difference is the single most important thing on this page. The claim with the shorter deadline is usually the one where the recovery is, because property owners, management companies and institutions carry insurance and individual assailants generally do not.
A survivor told only about the five year period can lose the valuable claim while believing there is time.
Two other things are worth saying at the outset. A civil claim does not require a police report, an arrest, a charge or a conviction, and an acquittal does not end it. And nothing about talking to a lawyer obliges anyone to file anything.
What a civil claim does need is evidence, and most of the evidence is not yours. It is in the records of the business, building or institution where it happened, and those records are on an automatic timer. See what evidence actually matters, and what disappears.
Section 16.0045 of the Civil Practice and Remedies Code sets longer periods where the injury arises from conduct violating listed Penal Code provisions.
Thirty years under Section 16.0045(a), where the conduct violates Section 22.011(a)(2) sexual assault of a child, Section 22.021(a)(1)(B) aggravated sexual assault of a child, Section 21.02 continuous sexual abuse of a young child or disabled individual, certain trafficking provisions of Section 20A.02, Section 43.05(a)(2) or (3) compelling prostitution of a child or disabled individual, or Section 21.11 indecency with a child.
Five years under Section 16.0045(b), where the conduct violates Section 22.011(a)(1) sexual assault, Section 22.021(a)(1)(A) aggravated sexual assault, Section 20A.02 trafficking other than the conduct in subsection (a), or Section 43.05(a)(1) compelling prostitution.
Section 16.001 separately tolls limitations while a person is younger than 18 or of unsound mind, so a claim by someone abused as a child does not begin to run during childhood.
Section 16.0045(d) also tolls the period where a petition is filed naming an unknown defendant as John or Jane Doe, provided the plaintiff proceeds with due diligence to discover the identity.
Section 16.0045 is written in terms of conduct that violates those Penal Code sections. A hotel, apartment complex or employer that failed to provide adequate security did not commit that conduct. Its liability is for negligence, and the general two year period in Section 16.003(a) is what a defendant will argue applies.
The conservative position is to plan around the shorter deadline rather than litigate about it after it has run. If you are reading this and something happened, the practical answer is that the valuable claim may have a two year fuse.
Foreseeability. Timberwalk Apartments, Partners, Inc. v. Cain, 972 S.W.2d 749 (Tex. 1998) directs courts to weigh whether similar crime occurred on or near the property, how recently, how often, how similar it was, and how publicized, in deciding whether the owner knew or should have known.
Del Lago Partners, Inc. v. Smith, 307 S.W.3d 762 (Tex. 2010) holds those factors are not the only route. Actual knowledge of a specific, building danger can establish foreseeability on its own. A property that had prior complaints about the same man, or that knew a gate had been broken for months, is in that territory.
Unreasonableness. UDR Texas Properties, L.P. v. Petrie, 517 S.W.3d 98 (Tex. 2017) adds a separate requirement. The plaintiff must prove the risk was unreasonable, weighing the burden of preventing it against the magnitude of the risk. The plaintiff in UDR lost on exactly that gap.
Chapter 98 creates liability for a defendant who engages in the trafficking of persons or who intentionally or knowingly benefits from participating in a venture that traffics another person, and it provides for actual damages, exemplary damages and attorney fees.
Chapter 98B creates liability for the unlawful disclosure or promotion of intimate visual material.
These chapters matter beyond damages, because each carries its own anonymity provision. Section 98.007 and Section 98B.008 each direct the court to allow a plaintiff to use a confidential identity in an action under that chapter. Section 30.013 is separate and narrower: it applies only where the plaintiff is an individual younger than 18, or that individual’s parents or legal guardian, in an action based on conduct described as a felony under Penal Code Section 22.011 or Section 22.021.
Outside those three statutes, an adult survivor asking to proceed by pseudonym in Texas is making a request to the trial court’s discretion, and Texas appellate authority on that is sparse. That question is answered in full here.
Section 41.008(c) removes the exemplary damages cap where the conduct was committed knowingly or intentionally and is described as a felony in a listed set of Penal Code sections. Those include Section 22.011 sexual assault, Section 21.02 continuous sexual abuse of a young child or disabled individual, Section 22.02 aggravated assault, Section 20.04 aggravated kidnapping and Chapter 20A trafficking of persons.
Exemplary damages still require clear and convincing evidence of fraud, malice or gross negligence under Section 41.003. But where the cap is off, the exposure is a different order of magnitude, and that changes what a case is worth.
Section 92.0161 of the Property Code allows a tenant who is a victim of sexual assault or sexual abuse, in the circumstances the statute sets out, to terminate the lease and vacate without further liability for rent, subject to the notice and documentation the section requires. Survivors are frequently told by a leasing office that they owe the balance of the term. That is not always true and it should be checked before anyone signs a move-out agreement.
Every statute and case linked above was read at its primary source. Texas statutes change every legislative session and case law is constantly changing.
This page is general information about Texas law. It is not legal advice about your situation, and reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship.
A civil claim is not about punishment. That is what the criminal system is for, and it is a separate process with a separate burden of proof. A civil claim is about the cost of what happened and who should carry it.
Those costs are real and usually ongoing. Therapy does not end when the case does. A survivor who moves out of a complex mid-lease pays for the move, the deposit on the next place and often the remaining rent, unless she knows about Section 92.0161 of the Property Code.
Texas also runs a Crime Victims’ Compensation program through the Attorney General that pays for counseling, relocation and lost wages, and it does not require an arrest or a conviction. It is not a substitute for a civil claim, and the two interact at settlement, because the State is subrogated to a recovery for pecuniary loss.
The first conversation is free, it is confidential, and it does not commit anyone to anything.
If there is a case we will say so and explain what it would involve. If there is not, we will say that too, and say why. A survivor deciding what to do next is better served by an accurate answer than an encouraging one.
What usually cannot wait is the evidence. Surveillance video, gate and key fob logs, incident reports and courtesy patrol records run on deletion schedules measured in days and weeks. A preservation letter can go out immediately. It costs nothing, it commits a survivor to nothing, and it keeps every option open while she decides.
If you are an advocate, a SANE nurse or a counselor helping someone right now, you are welcome to call on her behalf with a general question. You do not need her permission to ask us how something works, and we will not ask you for her name.
There is no charge to talk, and no attorney’s fee unless there is a recovery.
Call 713-521-0059.
It depends on the defendant. Against the person who committed the assault, Section 16.0045 gives five years for most adult offenses and thirty years for offenses against a child. Against a property owner or institution whose negligence allowed it, the claim is for negligence and the standard two year period in Section 16.003(a) is what a defendant will argue applies. Plan around the shorter one.
No. A civil claim does not require a police report, an arrest, a charge or a conviction, and an acquittal does not end it. The two systems ask different questions and apply different burdens of proof. What a civil claim does need is evidence, and most of it is in the records of the business, building or institution where it happened, which are on an automatic timer.
Yes, where the assault was foreseeable and the risk was unreasonable. That claim is usually where any real recovery is, because property owners and management companies carry insurance and individual assailants generally do not.
Sometimes. Chapters 98 and 98B each carry their own anonymity provisions, in Sections 98.007 and 98B.008. Section 30.013 is separate and applies only where the plaintiff is under eighteen. Outside those, an adult asking to proceed by pseudonym is making a request to the court’s discretion, and Texas appellate authority is sparse.
No. Section 41.008(c) removes the cap for conduct described as a felony under listed Penal Code sections, including sexual assault, continuous sexual abuse of a young child, aggravated kidnapping and trafficking.
Section 92.0161 of the Property Code allows a tenant who is a victim of sexual assault or sexual abuse to terminate the lease and vacate without further rent liability, in the circumstances and with the notice and documentation the section requires.
