Minnesota Sexual Abuse Settlement Calculator

Minnesota's Child Victims Act, codified at Minn. Stat. § 541.073, is one of the more survivor-favorable civil statutes of limitations in the country for childhood sexual abuse. Under subdivision 2(a)(2), a claim against the person who committed sexual abuse of a minor, or against a person who negligently permitted such abuse, 'may be commenced at any time' — there is no deadline. Two exceptions narrow this: a claim against an abuser who was themselves under 14 years old at the time of the abuse must be filed before the survivor turns 24, and a claim resting on vicarious liability or respondeat superior (typically against an institution rather than the individual abuser) must be filed within 6 years of the abuse, or before the survivor turns 24 if they were under 18 at the time.

Adult survivors — people who were 18 or older at the time of the abuse — are on a different clock. Minnesota's dedicated sexual-abuse civil-action statute gives adult claims 6 years from the date of the alleged abuse, measured under the same section, § 541.073, rather than the general personal-injury statute of limitations.

Minnesota also had a temporary revival window, created by the same 2013 law that opened the Child Victims Act. It allowed previously time-barred claims against an individual abuser (not vicarious-liability claims against an institution) to be filed no later than three years after May 25, 2013 — that is, through May 25, 2016. That window has been closed for over a decade, and no new revival window has been enacted since. If your claim was already time-barred before May 25, 2013 and does not fall under the current, ongoing no-deadline rule for minors, it may remain barred; an attorney can review the specific dates involved.

Childhood sexual abuse (under 18 at the time): Under Minn. Stat. § 541.073, subd. 2(a), a claim against the person who committed the abuse, or against someone who negligently permitted it, may be commenced at any time — there is no statute of limitations, subject to two exceptions in subdivision 4. First, if the abuser was a natural person under 14 years old at the time of the abuse, the claim must be commenced before the survivor turns 24. Second, a claim based on vicarious liability or respondeat superior — the type of claim typically brought against an institution rather than the individual abuser — must be commenced within 6 years of the alleged abuse, or before the survivor turns 24 if they were under 18 at the time. The statute is titled the Child Victims Act.

Adult sexual abuse (18 or older at the time): A claim must be commenced within 6 years of the alleged sexual abuse. This limitations period comes from Minnesota's dedicated sexual-abuse civil-action statute, § 541.073, subd. 2(a)(1) — which defines 'sexual abuse' by reference to Minn. Stat. §§ 609.342–609.3451 and 609.3458 — rather than from the state's general personal-injury statute of limitations.