Doe v. City of Los Angeles
Supreme Court of California
169 P.3d 559 (2007)
John Doe and John Doe 2 (plaintiffs) alleged that the City of Los Angeles and the Boy Scouts of America (defendants) negligently failed to prevent their sexual abuse by an LAPD officer during a joint police-scouting program when the plaintiffs were teenagers. Because they sued as adults in their forties, they needed a statutory exception extending the limitations period, which required showing the defendants knew or should have known about the abuser's specific prior sexual misconduct and failed to prevent future abuse by that person. The plaintiffs pleaded this knowledge based on information and belief rather than personal knowledge; the trial and appellate courts dismissed the suits for insufficient pleading.
Whether a claim that an entity negligently failed to prevent an employee from committing sexual abuse must be supported by evidentiary facts rather than ultimate facts pleaded on information and belief.