Minnesota at a glance
Rules, not your dateChild sexual abuse: the civil deadline
No deadline for claims that had not expired by May 25, 2013. Exceptions: vicarious liability claims, and claims against an abuser who was under 14, must be filed before age 24. The rule is in Minn. Stat. § 541.073.
That is the deadline for a civil lawsuit, a claim for money damages. A criminal prosecution runs on a separate clock set by the state’s criminal code, and a report to police can be made whether or not a civil claim is still open. How the two differ.
Adult sexual assault: the civil deadline
6 years from the alleged sexual abuse. The rule is in Minn. Stat. § 541.073, subd. 2(a)(1).
Revival and lookback windows
Minnesota opened a window that revived expired sexual abuse claims. It ran from May 25, 2013 to May 25, 2016. It is closed now. The law was 2013 Minn. Laws ch. 89, § 1 (Child Victims Act), effective date and applicability paragraph (b).
A revival window, sometimes called a lookback window, lets survivors file claims that had already expired, for a set period. Closed windows stay listed here with their dates, because a claim filed while one was open may still be moving through the courts. Every state’s window, side by side.
Claims against public entities
Claims against a municipality: notice to its governing body within 180 days after the injury is discovered. Claims against the State: notice to the attorney general within 180 days after discovery. No sexual abuse exemption appears in either text. See Minn. Stat. § 466.05, subd. 1; Minn. Stat. § 3.736, subd. 5.
A claim against a public body often needs a written notice filed with that body first, and the notice period can be far shorter than the deadline for the lawsuit itself.
Active lawsuits and institutions in Minnesota
We do not track a lawsuit filed in Minnesota on this site as of October 7, 2026. Several of the cases we track are national proceedings rather than state ones; see every lawsuit we track and abuse by type of institution.
The deadlines described here are general rules, and most of them have exceptions. The date that governs a particular claim turns on the state, the person’s age when the abuse happened, when they connected it to the harm it caused, and who the defendant is. A claim against a public agency or a public school can carry a written notice requirement that runs out long before the ordinary deadline.
Nothing on this page can tell you your own date. A lawyer who looks at your facts can, and there is no charge to ask.
- Minn. Stat. § 541.073 (childhood claims). Accurate as of October 7, 2026.
- Minn. Stat. § 541.073, subd. 2(a)(1) (adult claims). Accurate as of October 7, 2026.
- 2013 Minn. Laws ch. 89, § 1 (Child Victims Act), effective date and applicability paragraph (b) (revival window). Accurate as of October 7, 2026.
- Minn. Stat. § 466.05, subd. 1; Minn. Stat. § 3.736, subd. 5 (notice to public entities). Accurate as of October 7, 2026.
- CHILD USA, statute of limitations research (used as a cross-check, not as the source of any rule above).
