Oregon at a glance
Rules, not your dateChild sexual abuse: the civil deadline
No deadline for claims arising on or after June 26, 2025. Older claims: until age 40, or 5 years from discovery, whichever is later. Claims against a public body, such as a school district, follow the shorter Tort Claims Act limits. The rule is in Or. Rev. Stat. § 12.117; Or. Laws 2025, ch. 447, § 3.
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
No deadline for claims arising on or after June 26, 2025. Older claims: 5 years from discovering the link between the assault and the injury. The rule is in Or. Rev. Stat. § 12.118; Or. Laws 2025, ch. 447, § 3.
Revival and lookback windows
Oregon has not enacted a window that revives sexual abuse claims whose deadline had already passed.
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
Notice of claim within 180 days of the injury, not counting up to 90 days while the person is a minor or unable to give notice; suit within 2 years. Both run from when the injury was or should have been discovered. These limits apply to claims against public bodies such as school districts even where ORS 12.117 allows longer. The only exemption from notice is for children in DHS or Oregon Youth Authority custody suing those agencies. See Or. Rev. Stat. § 30.275(2)(b), (8), (9); Doe v. Lake Oswego School District, 353 Or 321 (2013).
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 Oregon
- Juvenile facility sexual abuse lawsuits, state by state: Juvenile facility abuse cases in this state
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.
- Or. Rev. Stat. § 12.117; Or. Laws 2025, ch. 447, § 3 (childhood claims). Accurate as of October 7, 2026.
- Or. Rev. Stat. § 12.118; Or. Laws 2025, ch. 447, § 3 (adult claims). Accurate as of October 7, 2026.
- Or. Rev. Stat. § 30.275(2)(b), (8), (9); Doe v. Lake Oswego School District, 353 Or 321 (2013) (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).
