Source: s3://data.kl3m.ai/documents/govinfo/USCOURTS/USCOURTS-ca10-90-02022/USCOURTS-ca10-90-02022-0/pdf.json

Nature of Suit Code: 550
Nature of Suit: Prisoner - Civil Rights (U.S. defendant)
Cause of Action: 

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UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS 

TENTH CIRCUIT 

LEONARD L. MONTOYA, 

Plaintiff-Appellant, 

. FIL E D 

Umted St~tli~ Com·t of Appeais 

Tenth Ch-cuit 

{i.UG .. 9 1990 

ROBERT L. HOECKER 

Clerk 

vs. 

JOHN DOE, Taos County Sheriff 

and JOHN DOE, Taos County Tax 

Administrator, 

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No. 90-2022 

(D.C. No. 90-13-JP) 

(D.N.M.) 

Defendants-Appellees. 

ORDER AND JUDGMENT * 

Before ANDERSON, BALDOCK and EBEL, Circuit Judges. ** 

Plaintiff-Appellant, Leonard Montoya, instituted this civil 

rights action under 42 u.s.c. § 1983 in the district court on 

January 8, 1990, alleging that Taos County, New Mexico officials 

deprived him of his constitutional rights. Because a generous 

reading of his complaint showed that the events about which 

Montoya complained occurred on or about March 19, 1986, the 

* This order and judgment has no precedential value and shall not 

be cited, or used by any court within the Tenth Circuit, except 

for purposes of establishing the doctrines of the law of the case, 

res judicata, or collateral estoppel. 10th Cir. R. 36.3. 

** After examining the briefs and appellate record, this panel 

has determined unanimously that oral argument would not materially 

assist the determination of this appeal. See Fed. R. App. P. 

34(a); 10th Cir. R. 34.1.9. The cause therefore is ordered 

submitted without oral argument. 

Appellate Case: 90-2022 Document: 010110040742 Date Filed: 08/09/1990 Page: 1 
district court dismissed the complaint as barred by the applicable 

statute of limitations. 

Because Congress has not provided us with a statute of 

limitations for civil rights claims arising under S 1983, the 

controlling period is the most appropriate one provided by state 

law. Board of Regents v. Tomanio, 446 U.S. 478, 483-86 (1980). 

In Garcia v. Wilson, 731 F.2d 640 (10th Cir. 1984) (en bane), 

aff'd, 471 U.S. 261 (1985), we held that "every section 1983 claim 

is in essence an action for injury to personal rights [and] 

[h]enceforth, all section 1983 claims in this circuit will be 

uniformly so characterized for statute of limitations purposes." 

Id. at 651. In New Mexico, where this action arose, the statute 

of limitations for personal injury actions is three years. N.M. 

1 Stat. Ann. S 37-1-8 (1978). Accordingly, the district court 

properly dismissed Montoya's complaint as untimely. 

AFFIRMED. 

Entered for the Court 

Bobby R. Baldock 

Circuit Judge 

1 · In its order of dismissal, the district court inadvertently 

cited N.M. Stat. Ann. S 37-1-4 (1978), which provides a four year 

limitations period for unspecified actions, instead of§ 37-1-8. 

-2-

Appellate Case: 90-2022 Document: 010110040742 Date Filed: 08/09/1990 Page: 2