School sexual abuse claims in the Central Valley and SacramentoConfidential. No fee unless we recover.

You can read this page without contacting anyone. If you choose to reach out, you can do it without giving your name. Nothing happens until you say so. If this happened to you or your child at a school in Fresno, Kern or Sacramento County, the record below shows what districts here have faced, and the sections after it explain the law.

Districts with a public record

Public reporting names three districts in this region. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome. Every case depends on its own facts.

Clovis Unified

In June 2025, five former Fancher Creek Elementary students sued Clovis Unified. They allege that a second grade teacher abused them between 1998 and 2005, that officials received complaints, and that no one reported him to the authorities. The teacher, Neng Yang, was later sentenced to 38 years in prison for producing child pornography, according to the firm that filed the suit. The case was pending as last reported, and an allegation is not a finding. Details, status and deadlines are on our Clovis Unified page.

Kern High School District

Univision reported a suit against Kern High School District over an incident at Bakersfield High. The complaint alleges that a freshman abused a classmate during class in 2019 while a teacher stood 15 feet away, and that the same student had earlier been accused of abusing three others. The abuser was a student, not an employee. That does not end the district's responsibility. Its duty to supervise covers what one student does to another when the adults in charge could have foreseen it. Our Kern High School District page explains that claim.

Sacramento City Unified

In June 2023, the City of Sacramento and Sacramento City Unified settled with five survivors abused at Mark Twain Elementary, and a sixth survivor settled separately. The abuser, Joshua Vasquez, led the city's after-school program at the school and was a part-time district employee. He pleaded guilty and was sentenced in 2016 to 150 years to life. The full record is on our Sacramento City Unified page.

Filing deadlines

California has two tracks. For abuse on or after January 1, 2024, there is no time limit; that is AB 452, now Code of Civil Procedure section 340.1(p). For abuse before that date, AB 218 controls: a survivor may file until age 40, or within five years of discovering that an adult injury was caused by the abuse, whichever is later. Survivors 40 and older also file certificates of merit from an attorney and a licensed mental health practitioner. No government claim is required for childhood sexual assault under Government Code section 905(m). SB 577 passed the Legislature at the end of August 2026 and awaited the Governor as of September 23, 2026. It may change the rules for older claims. Our statute of limitations page tracks it.

District responsibility

A public district answers for its employees under Government Code section 815.2. In C.A. v. William S. Hart Union High School District (2012), the California Supreme Court held that a district can be liable when its administrators negligently hired, kept or supervised an abusive employee. In Doe v. Lawndale Elementary School District (2021), the Court of Appeal held that this duty does not depend on proof that the district knew of the employee's prior misconduct. Whether administrators responded reasonably to warning signs is a question for the jury. Section 340.1 allows up to treble damages for a cover-up, but in Los Angeles Unified School District v. Superior Court (2023) the Supreme Court held that Government Code section 818 bars that enhancement against public entities. We do not promise it.

Statewide representation

Our office is in Tarzana, in Los Angeles County. We handle school abuse cases statewide by phone, video and travel, and Fresno, Bakersfield and Sacramento are within reach. An attorney will tell you on the first call if another firm is the better fit, and why. The distance changes nothing about the law or the deadlines above. How the firm approaches these cases is on our California school sexual abuse lawyer page.

A confidential first step

Call, text, or use the confidential form on this page. The form has no narrative box; it asks how to reach you and whether it is safe to call. A Jane Doe or John Doe filing is common in these cases, and we will ask whether you want one. You do not have to face the abuser to bring a claim. No fee unless we recover. If there is no recovery, you owe no fee and no case costs.

Records to gather

You do not need any documents to call. Our before you call checklist for adult survivors lists what helps: the school and the years, the adult's role, yearbooks, photos, messages, and friends who knew. Parents can use our after your child tells you checklist. Write down what your child said in their words, with the date. Preserve messages and devices, and ask the school for its written policy and its Title IX coordinator's name. Do not contact the abuser or the district, and do not post details online.

Sources cited

• Pfau Cochran Vertetis Amala, Clovis Unified lawsuit announcement, June 17, 2025
• Univision Bakersfield, lawsuit alleging sexual abuse of a minor at a Bakersfield school
• CBS Sacramento, city and district settle classroom abuse case, June 4, 2023
• Code of Civil Procedure section 340.1
• CSBA legal update on AB 452
• FCMAT report, January 31, 2025
• Government Code section 905
• Government Code section 815.2
• C.A. v. William S. Hart (2012), summarized
• Doe v. Lawndale (2021)
• Los Angeles Unified v. Superior Court (2023)
• CalMatters on SB 577, August 2026
• SB 577 bill status