If someone sexually assaulted you in Oregon, the law used to put a clock on your right to sue. Many survivors never got to use that right. They were still finding the words when the deadline passed.
A new state law changed that, and it may change what is possible for your case. You may have far more time than you think. Even if your assault happened years ago, you may still be able to file. This page explains what changed, who it helps, and what to do next.
The law is House Bill 3582. If the assault happened on or after June 26, 2025, there is no deadline to sue. You can file at any point in your life. Oregon now joins a small group of states that have dropped the time limit for these cases. But the new law is narrower than most news stories make it sound, and the rest of this page tells you why.
Key Takeaways
- HB 3582 took effect June 26, 2025 and eliminates the civil statute of limitations for adult sexual assault claims arising on or after that date.
- The law is not retroactive. Assaults that occurred before June 26, 2025 are still governed by ORS 12.117 (childhood) or the prior ORS 12.118 framework (adult).
- Older claims can still be viable. Oregon’s discovery rules and the ORS 124.100 vulnerable-person remedy continue to keep many pre-2025 cases alive.
- Federal law (EFAA 2022) blocks forced arbitration of sexual assault claims, including in Uber and Lyft cases under MDL 3084.
What HB 3582 Actually Changed
HB 3582 changed Oregon law to remove the filing deadline for adult sexual assault. The Oregon Legislature passed the bill and signed it in 2025. It takes effect June 26, 2025, and it covers claims that start on or after that day.
Before HB 3582, an Oregon adult who was sexually assaulted had only a short window to sue. Under ORS 12.118, that window was five years from when you discovered the causal connection between the assault and your injury. Many survivors ran out of time before they were ready.
The new law replaces that countdown with a simple rule. If the assault happened on or after June 26, 2025, you can file a civil suit at any time in your life. Oregon law no longer sets a final deadline.
Why Removing the Time Bar Matters
Survivors of sexual assault rarely come forward on the same timeline as other injury victims. A car crash causes harm you can see right away. An assault causes trauma that often takes years, sometimes decades, to turn into a court case.
The Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network (RAINN) reports that more than 2 out of 3 sexual assaults are never reported to police. Survivors often tell family first, and many never tell anyone at all.
A deadline that runs out in five years is one most survivors cannot meet. The Centers for Disease Control reports that nearly 1 in 2 U.S. women and more than 1 in 6 U.S. men have experienced contact sexual violence in their lifetime.
These are not rare events. They are a public health crisis, and the old Oregon deadline did not match it. Our roundup of sexual abuse statistics shows just how widespread the harm is.
By dropping the deadline for assaults on or after June 26, 2025, Oregon matched its court rules to how survivors really come forward. You can file when you are ready, not when a law says you must.
Who HB 3582 Helps
HB 3582 helps any adult survivor of sexual assault where the assault happened on or after June 26, 2025. There is no longer a deadline to file a civil case in Oregon court. This applies whether the assault happened in Portland, Salem, Eugene, Bend, Medford, or anywhere else in the state.
The new law matters most for survivors in three settings where people tend to come forward slowly:
- Workplace assaults where the survivor fears payback, immigration problems, or harm to their career if they speak too soon.
- Healthcare settings with doctors, therapists, chiropractors, or hospital staff, where the patient often does not realize for years that what happened was wrong.
- Rideshare and transportation assaults by Uber and Lyft drivers, where survivors may freeze, may not know the driver’s name, and may take time to see the company’s role.
In each setting, the old five-year clock forced survivors to choose between healing and going to court. HB 3582 lets them do both.
Who HB 3582 Does Not Help (And What Still Works For Them)
This is the part most news coverage misses. Dropping the deadline going forward is a big step, but it does not bring back claims that already expired, and it does not change the picture for survivors of older abuse. For those survivors, three other Oregon laws are the ones that matter.
ORS 12.117 Childhood sexual abuse discovery rule
If the abuse happened while you were under 18, Oregon lets you file a civil case before age 40 or within five years from the date you connected the abuse to a harm, whichever is longer. This is the same law that has kept clergy, scouting, and youth program cases alive long after the abuse happened.
ORS 12.118 Adult assault claims before HB 3582
For adult sexual assault that happened before June 26, 2025, the older rules still apply. Under the prior version of ORS 12.118, you could file a civil case within five years of the date you reasonably discovered the harm and its link to the assault.
Many older claims are still open under these rules, especially when the survivor only recently linked current harm to the original assault.
ORS 124.100 Vulnerable person abuse remedy
If the survivor was an elder, a person with a disability, or otherwise a vulnerable person, Oregon allows triple damages, attorney fees, and costs against any person or facility that abused, neglected, or financially exploited them. ORS 124.130 gives you a 7-year window to file these claims.
If you are not sure which law fits your case, a free consultation is the only way to know. Our guide to choosing a sexual abuse lawyer walks through what to look for, and our Portland clergy abuse page shows how Oregon’s discovery rules keep older claims alive.
Institutional Liability Is Where Most Compensation Comes From
HB 3582 changes the timeline. It does not change who can be sued. Civil sexual assault cases in Oregon still turn on naming the right defendants, and in most cases the right defendant is not just the person who did it.
Oregon civil courts hold institutions responsible when they:
- Hired, kept, or moved a known offender even after earlier complaints
- Failed to check, train, or supervise people in positions of trust
- Ignored their legal duty to report abuse
- Hid past incidents from victims, families, or regulators
- Ran a setting (a ride, a hospital room, a care home, a youth program) where the offender only had access because of that institution
This is why a clergy case targets a diocese, a scouting case targets the chartered groups, a nursing home case targets the company that runs it, and a rideshare case targets Uber or Lyft. Our work across clergy abuse and foster care abuse cases keeps this focus on the institution.
The EFAA Closed the Arbitration Loophole
In 2022, Congress passed the Ending Forced Arbitration of Sexual Assault and Sexual Harassment Act (EFAA). This federal law lets survivors of sexual assault and harassment throw out any arbitration agreement they signed before the dispute. It covers claims that arose on or after March 3, 2022.
This matters in Oregon because many of the institutions survivors sue (employers, rideshare companies, app-based platforms, healthcare systems) hide arbitration clauses in their terms of service or hiring paperwork. Before the EFAA, those clauses pushed survivors into private arbitration, away from juries.
Under the EFAA, you choose. If you want a public courtroom and a jury trial, you get one. This is one reason MDL 3084, the federal Uber rideshare case, has moved forward in court instead of private arbitration.
What An Oregon Sexual Assault Civil Case Looks Like Today
In our Oregon intake calls since HB 3582 took effect, the most common question is not whether to file. It is whether the new law applies to an older event. Most callers describe abuse from years or decades ago, which means the answer almost always runs through ORS 12.117 or ORS 12.118, not HB 3582.
How a case actually works has not changed. What changes is which clock applies. Today, a Goldberg & Loren intake usually moves through these stages:
- Private intake. A free call with an attorney. We find out which law applies, whether HB 3582 fits, and who can be sued.
- Records and timeline. We pull medical, therapy, work, school, and police records to build a clear order of events.
- Demand or filing. Many cases against institutions settle before a lawsuit through a private demand letter. If not, we file in the right Oregon county. Many cases can be filed under a fake name (Jane Doe, John Doe).
- Discovery and depositions. This is where the company’s documents and past-complaint records, the ones that drive the settlement value, come out.
- Resolution. Most cases settle. The ones that go to trial reach a jury that can award money for your harm and, in some cases, extra damages to punish the wrongdoer.
Privacy and Reporting Protections
Survivors often worry that filing a civil case will force them to relive the assault in public. Oregon courts have built-in protections that we use in nearly every case.
- Fake-name filings let many survivors file as Jane Doe or John Doe, with their real name sealed from the public record.
- Protective orders seal therapy notes, medical records, and personal files shared during the case.
- Reporter protection under ORS 124.075 shields anyone who reports suspected abuse of a vulnerable person in good faith.
- Private settlements are an option when survivors want privacy instead of a public result.
- You decide about the criminal side. A civil case does not need a criminal complaint, an arrest, or a conviction. See how civil and criminal court differ in Portland.
If you are in crisis or in immediate danger. Call 911. For confidential 24/7 support, the National Sexual Assault Hotline is 1-800-656-HOPE (4673). Oregon’s DHS abuse reporting line for children, elders, and adults with disabilities is 1-855-503-SAFE (7233).
None of these calls trigger a civil action. None of them obligate you to take legal action.
Frequently Asked Questions About HB 3582
HB 3582 is a 2025 Oregon law that eliminates the civil statute of limitations for adult sexual assault claims arising on or after June 26, 2025. Survivors no longer face a fixed deadline to file those claims in Oregon civil court.
No. HB 3582 applies only to claims arising on or after June 26, 2025. It does not revive previously expired claims. Survivors of earlier assaults are governed by ORS 12.117 (childhood) or the prior ORS 12.118 framework (adult), both of which contain discovery rules that may still allow a case to be filed today.
HB 3582 takes effect June 26, 2025. Claims that start on or after that date no longer face any filing deadline under Oregon civil law.
Often yes. Older cases are evaluated under ORS 12.117 if you were a child at the time, or under the prior ORS 12.118 discovery framework if you were an adult. Both include discovery rules that can keep your case open. A consultation is the only way to know.
Partly. HB 3582 also amended ORS 12.117, the childhood sexual abuse statute, so child sexual abuse claims arising on or after June 26, 2025 face no filing deadline. Claims from before that date remain under the prior ORS 12.117 rule, which allows a civil action before age 40 or within five years of discovering the causal connection between the abuse and an injury, whichever is longer.
HB 3582 is focused on civil claims based on sexual assault. Sexual harassment is governed by separate Oregon and federal employment statutes with their own timelines. A consultation can clarify which path fits your facts.
ORS 124.100 allows treble damages, attorney fees, and costs against any person or facility that abused, neglected, or financially exploited a vulnerable person. ORS 124.130 establishes a seven-year filing window for those claims, independent of HB 3582.
Not for a sexual assault or sexual harassment claim. The federal Ending Forced Arbitration of Sexual Assault and Sexual Harassment Act of 2022 lets survivors void pre-dispute arbitration clauses. You choose whether to litigate in court.
Not necessarily. Survivors of sexual assault may file as Jane Doe or John Doe in qualifying Oregon cases. Personal records produced in discovery are sealed under protective order. Most cases settle under confidentiality terms when that is what the survivor wants.
Yes. HB 3582 changes the civil deadline, the one that applies when you sue for money damages. Criminal charges follow separate Oregon criminal statutes of limitations and are filed by the district attorney, not by you. A civil case can move forward whether or not criminal charges are ever brought, and the two run on different clocks.
Call Goldberg & Loren at (253) 336-5664 for a free, confidential consultation. We will review the date and circumstances of the assault, identify the controlling statute, and tell you whether HB 3582 or a prior Oregon law applies to your case.
Talk To An Oregon Sexual Assault Attorney Today
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Sources:
[1] Oregon Legislative Information System (OLIS), HB 3582 (2025 Regular Session). olis.oregonlegislature.gov. Retrieved 2026-05-27.
[2] Oregon Revised Statutes, ORS 12.117 (childhood sexual abuse), ORS 12.118 (adult sexual assault, pre-HB 3582), ORS 124.075 (reporter immunity), ORS 124.100 (vulnerable person remedy), ORS 124.130 (elder abuse SOL). Oregon State Legislature.
[3] Ending Forced Arbitration of Sexual Assault and Sexual Harassment Act of 2021, H.R. 4445 (effective March 3, 2022). U.S. Congress.
[4] Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network (RAINN), Statistics: The Criminal Justice System. rainn.org. Retrieved 2026-05-27.
[5] Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey (NISVS): 2023/2024 Sexual Violence Data Brief, About Sexual Violence. cdc.gov. Retrieved 2026-06-08.
This article is intended for general information only and does not constitute legal advice. An attorney-client relationship is created only by signed engagement. Past results do not guarantee future outcomes. Oregon statutes are summarized; the actual application of these laws depends on the facts of your case. If you are in crisis, call 911 or 1-800-656-HOPE.
