OKLAHOMA
CHILD SEX ABUSE SOLs
CURRENT CIVIL SOL
The civil SOL for CSA, trafficking, and CSAM claims is age 45 against perpetrators and age 20 against all other defendants.
CIVIL SOL SNAPSHOT
AGE CAP | CSA: AGE 45 TRAFFICKING: AGE 45 CSAM: AGE 45 |
REVIVAL LAW | NONE |
DISCOVERY TOLLING | NONE |
Civil SOL History
| Age Cap | |
| 2002 | Age 20 SOL for CSA incidents and exploitation, including CSAM and trafficking,[i] against all defendants.[ii] |
| 2004 | Added a provision extending the SOL against an imprisoned perpetrator to 5 years after the perpetrator’s release.[iii] |
| 2011 | Added a civil cause of action for CSAM claims against the producer, promoter, or intentional possessor of child pornography and set the SOL at age 21 (age of majority, 18, plus 3 years), or 3 years from the conclusion of a related criminal case or from when the victim is notified of the existence of the CSAM by law enforcement.[iv] |
| 2017 | Extended the SOL to age 45 for CSA, trafficking, and CSAM actions against perpetrators. However, the State left the SOL for claims against other defendants at age 20.[v] |
| Revival Law | |
| N/A | No window or other SOL revival law. |
| Discovery | |
| Common Law | Oklahoma has a common law discovery rule that tolls the applicable SOL “until an injured party knows of, or in the exercise of reasonable diligence, should have known of or discovered the injury,” but that rule was never applied to most tort actions, including CSA.[vi] |
| Statutory | In 1992, Oklahoma enacted a statutory 2-year discovery rule for victims with an upper limit of age 38 that accrued when they discovered their injury.[vii] Claims under the discovery rule required both objective, verifiable evidence of psychological repression of the victim’s memory and corroborating evidence that the sexual abuse occurred.[viii] It is unclear whether the statutory discovery rule applied to all defendants, including non-perpetrator defendants. In 2017, when Oklahoma extended its civil SOL, it removed its discovery rule.[ix] |
[i] Id. at tit. 21, § 867 (1999) (trafficking in children).
[ii] Okla. Stat. Ann. § 95 (2002) (SOL).
[iii] Id. at § 95 (2004) (SOL).
[iv] Id. at § 1040.56 (2011) (CSAM civil cause of action and SOL).
[v] Id. at § 95 (2017) (SOL).
[vi] See, e.g., Lovelace v. Keohane, 831 P.2d 624, 629 (Okla. 1992).
[vii] Okla. Stat. Ann. tit. 12, § 95 (1992).
[viii] Id.
[ix] Id. (2021).
CURRENT OKLAHOMA CIVIL LAW
Okla. Stat. Ann. § 95 - Limitation of other actions
A. Civil actions other than for the recovery of real property can only be brought within the following periods, after the cause of action shall have accrued, and not afterwards:
3. Within two (2) years: An action for trespass upon real property; an action for taking, detaining, or injuring personal property, including actions for the specific recovery of personal property; an action for injury to the rights of another, not arising on contract, and not hereinafter enumerated; an action for relief on the ground of fraud–the cause of action in such case shall not be deemed to have accrued until the discovery of the fraud;
5. An action upon the official bond or undertaking of an executor, administrator, guardian, sheriff, or any other officer, or upon the bond or undertaking given in attachment, injunction, arrest, or in any case whatever required by the statute, can only be brought within five (5) years after the cause of action shall have accrued;
6. An action based on intentional conduct brought by any person for recovery of damages for injury suffered as a result of childhood sexual abuse incidents or exploitation as defined by Section 1-1-105 of Title 10A of the Oklahoma Statutes or incest against the actual perpetrator shall be commenced by the forty-fifth birthday of the alleged victim. If the person committing the act of sexual abuse against a child was employed by an institution, agency, firm, business, corporation or other public or private legal entity that owed a duty of care to the victim, or the accused and the child were engaged in some activity over which the legal entity had some degree of responsibility or control, the action must be brought against such employer or legal entity within two (2) years; provided, that the time limit for commencement of an action pursuant to this paragraph is tolled for a child until the child reaches the age of eighteen (18) years. No action may be brought against the alleged perpetrator or the estate of the alleged perpetrator after the death of such alleged perpetrator, unless the perpetrator was convicted of a crime of sexual abuse involving the claimant. An action pursuant to this paragraph must be based upon objective verifiable evidence in order for the victim to recover damages for injuries suffered by reason of such sexual abuse, exploitation, or incest. The victim need not establish which act in a series of continuing sexual abuse incidents, exploitation incidents, or incest caused the injury complained of;
7. An action based on intentional conduct brought by any person for recovery of damages for injury suffered as a result of criminal actions, as defined by the Oklahoma Statutes, may be brought against any person incarcerated or under the supervision of a state, federal or local correctional facility on or after November 1, 2003:
9. An action to establish paternity can be brought by a child in accordance with Section 7700-606 of Title 10 of the Oklahoma Statutes;
to include, but not be limited to, the revocation of earned credits and claims for injury to the rights of another, shall be commenced within one (1) year after the cause of action shall have accrued; and
B. Collection of debts owed by inmates who have received damage awards pursuant to Section 566.1 of Title 57 of the Oklahoma Statutes shall be governed by the time limitations imposed by that section.
Case law
Christ’s Legacy Church v. Trinity Grp. Architects, Inc., 417 P.3d 1223, 1228 (Okla. Civ. App. 2018) (refusing to apply discovery rule to a negligent construction case).
CURRENT CRIMINAL SOL
CSA: The criminal SOL for CSA is age 45 with a DNA rule, and 3 years from the offense for other felonies and misdemeanors.
Trafficking: The SOL for trafficking is age 45.
CSAM: The SOL for CSAM offenses is age 45.
CRIMINAL SOL SNAPSHOT
OTHER FELNOIES
CSA | AGE 45 |
TRAFFICKING | AGE 45 |
CSAM | AGE 45 |
Criminal SOL History
| Age Cap | |
| 2002 | The SOL for CSA, including rape, sodomy, lewd acts and pornography, was 7 years after the crime was reported to law enforcement with a requirement that the crime must be reported before age 20, so the latest crimes could be prosecuted was age 26. It also had a DNA statute that extended the SOL to 3 years after a DNA match if it was reported before age 20.[i] The SOL for remaining felonies and misdemeanors, including trafficking, was 3 years after the offense.[ii] |
| 2005 | Extended the SOL for CSA that was reported to law enforcement before age 20 to 12 years after reporting, so the latest crimes could be prosecuted was age 31.[iii] |
| 2008 | Added child trafficking to the CSA SOL.[iv] |
| 2015 | Extended the CSA SOL to include aggravated possession of child pornography.[v] |
| 2017 | Extended the CSA SOL to age 45, and removed the prior reporting requirements by age 20 for the SOL and DNA rules to apply.[vi] |
| 2022 | Extended the SOL for other human trafficking offenses to 3 years after discovery.[vii] |
[i] Okla. Stat. Ann. tit. 22, § 152 (2002) (SOL) (stating, “[a]s used in paragraph 1 of subsection C of this section, “discovery” means the date that a physical or sexually related crime involving a victim under the age of eighteen (18) years of age is reported to a law enforcement agency, up to and including one (1) year from the eighteenth birthday of the child.”).
[ii] Id. at (H) (2002) (three-year SOL).
[iii] Id. at (L) (2005) (stipulating, “[a]s used in paragraph 1 of subsection C of this section, “discovery” means the date that a physical or sexually related crime involving a victim under the age of eighteen (18) years of age is reported to a law enforcement agency, up to and including one (1) year from the eighteenth birthday of the child.”).
[iv] Id. at (C)(1) (2008).
[v] Id. (2015) (SOL).
[vi] Id. (2017) (SOL).
[vii] Id. at (L) (2022) (SOL); 2022 Okla. Sess. Law Serv. Ch. 174 (S.B. 974) ; Okla. Stat. Ann. 21, § 748 (human trafficking for forced labor or forced sexual exploitation).
CURRENT OKLAHOMA CRIMINAL LAW
Okla. Stat. Ann. tit. 22, § 152 - Statute of limitations
A. Prosecutions for the crimes of bribery, embezzlement of public money, bonds, securities, assets or property of the state or any county, school district, municipality or other subdivision thereof, or of any misappropriation of public money, bonds, securities, assets or property of the state or any county, school district, municipality or other subdivision thereof, falsification of public records of the state or any county, school district, municipality or other subdivision thereof, and conspiracy to defraud the State of Oklahoma or any county, school district, municipality or other subdivision thereof in any manner or for any purpose shall be commenced within seven (7) years after the discovery of the crime; provided, however, prosecutions for the crimes of embezzlement or misappropriation of public money, bonds, securities, assets or property of any school district, including those relating to student activity funds, or the crime of falsification of public records of any independent school district, the crime of criminal conspiracy, the crime of embezzlement pursuant to Sections 1451 through 1461 of Title 21 of the Oklahoma Statutes, the crime of False Personation or Identity Theft pursuant to Sections 1531 through 1533.3 of Title 21 of the Oklahoma Statutes, the financial exploitation of a vulnerable adult pursuant to Sections 843.1, 843.3 and 843.4 of Title 21 of the Oklahoma Statutes, or Medicaid fraud pursuant to Section 1005 of Title 56 of the Oklahoma Statutes, shall be commenced within five (5) years after the discovery of the crime.
C. 1. Prosecutions for sexual crimes against children, specifically rape or forcible sodomy, sodomy, lewd or indecent proposals or acts against children, involving minors in pornography pursuant to Section 886, 888, 1111, 1111.1, 1113, 1114, 1021.2, 1021.3, 1040.12a or 1123 of Title 21 of the Oklahoma Statutes, child abuse pursuant to Section 843.5 of Title 21 of the Oklahoma Statutes, and child trafficking pursuant to Section 866 of Title 21 of the Oklahoma Statutes shall be commenced by the forty-fifth birthday of the alleged victim. Prosecutions for such crimes committed against victims eighteen (18) years of age or older shall be commenced within twelve (12) years after the discovery of the crime. As used in this paragraph, “discovery” means the date that a physical or sexually related crime involving a victim eighteen (18) years of age or older is reported to a law enforcement agency.
A prosecution under this exception must be commenced within three (3) years from the date on which the identity of the suspect is established by DNA testing.
D. Prosecutions for criminal violations of any provision of the Oklahoma Wildlife Conservation Code1 shall be commenced within three (3) years after the commission of such offense.
E. Prosecutions for the crime of criminal fraud or workers’ compensation fraud pursuant to Section 1541.1, 1541.2, 1662 or 1663 of Title 21 of the Oklahoma Statutes shall commence within three (3) years after the discovery of the crime, but in no event greater than seven (7) years after the commission of the crime.
F. Prosecution for the crime of false or bogus check pursuant to Section 1541.1, 1541.2, 1541.3 or 1541.4 of Title 21 of the Oklahoma Statutes shall be commenced within five (5) years after the commission of such offense.
G. Prosecution for the crime of solicitation for murder in the first degree pursuant to Section 701.16 of Title 21 of the Oklahoma Statutes shall be commenced within seven (7) years after the discovery of the crime. For purposes of this subsection, “discovery” means the date upon which the crime is made known to anyone other than a person involved in the solicitation.
J. Prosecution for the crime of arson pursuant to Section 1401, 1402, 1403, 1404 or 1405 of Title 21 of the Oklahoma Statutes shall be commenced within seven (7) years after the commission of the crime.
L. Prosecutions for the crime of human trafficking pursuant to Section 748 of Title 21 of the Oklahoma Statutes shall be commenced within three (3) years after discovery of the crime. For purposes of this subsection, “discovery” means the date upon which the crime is reported to a law enforcement agency.
Case Law
The information provided is solely for informational purposes and is not legal advice. To determine the Oklahoma SOL in a particular case, contact a lawyer in the state.
Last Updated: November 15, 2023