Source: http://openjurist.org/print/33276
Timestamp: 2015-05-24 20:00:51
Document Index: 342961362

Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 1983', '§ 1988', '§ 1983', '§ 1983', '§ 1983', '§ 1988', '§ 1983', '§ 1983', '§ 1983']

490 US 536 Hardin v. Straub
490 US 536 Hardin v. Straub 490 U.S. 536
109 S.Ct. 1998
104 L.Ed.2d 582
Tyrone Victor HARDIN, Petitionerv.Dennis STRAUB.
No. 87-7023.
Argued March 22, 1989.
Decided May 22, 1989.
In 1986, petitioner, who is incarcerated in a Michigan state prison, filed a pro se complaint under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 alleging that prison authorities had deprived him of his federal constitutional rights during 1980 and 1981. The Federal District Court sua sponte dismissed the complaint because it had been filed after the expiration of Michigan's 3-year statutory limitations period for personal injury actions, which is applicable in federal civil rights actions under 42 U.S.C. § 1988 and this Court's decisions. The Court of Appeals affirmed, refusing to apply a Michigan statute that suspends limitations periods for persons under a legal disability, including prisoners, until one year after the disability has been removed.
Held: A federal court applying a state statute of limitations to an inmate's federal civil rights action should give effect to the State's provision tolling the limitations period for prisoners. The Court of Appeals' ruling to the contrary conflicts with Board of Regents, University of New York v. Tomanio, 446 U.S. 478, 100 S.Ct. 1790, 64 L.Ed.2d 440, which held that limitations periods in § 1983 suits are to be determined by reference to the appropriate state statute of limitations and the coordinate tolling rules, as long as the state law would not defeat the goals of the federal law at issue. The Michigan tolling statute is consistent with § 1983's remedial purpose, since some inmates may be loathe to sue adversaries to whose daily supervision and control they remain subject, and even those who do file suit may not have a fair opportunity t establish the validity of their allegations while they are confined. Pp. 538-544.
836 F.2d 549 (C.A.6 1987) reversed and remanded.
Douglas Ryan Mullkoff, Ann Arbor, Mich., for petitioner.
Louis J. Caruso, Lansing, Mich., for respondent.
This case presents the question whether a federal court applying a state statute of limitations to an inmate's federal civil rights action should give effect to the State's provision tolling the limitations period for prisoners.
Petitioner is incarcerated in a Michigan state prison. In 1986 he filed a pro se complaint pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983, alleging that for approximately 180 days in 1980 and 1981 he had been held in solitary confinement in violation of his federal constitutional rights.1 The District Court sua sponte dismissed the complaint because it had been filed after the expiration of Michigan's 3-year statutory limitations period for personal injury actions. The Court of Appeals affirmed. 836 F.2d 549 (CA6 1987). Following its 3-day-old decision in Higley v. Michigan Department of Corrections, 835 F.2d 623 (CA6 1987), the court refused to apply a Michigan statute that suspends limitations periods for persons under a legal disability until one year after the disability has been removed. Because that holding appeared to conflict with our decision in Board of Regents, University of New York v. Tomanio, 446 U.S. 478, 100 S.Ct. 1790, 64 L.Ed.2d 440 (1980), we granted certiorari.2 488 U.S. 887, 109 S.Ct. 217, 102 L.Ed.2d 209 (1988). We now reverse.
In enacting 42 U.S.C. § 1988 Congress determined that gaps in federal civil rights acts should be filled by state law, as long as that law is not inconsistent with federal law.3 See Burnett v. Grattan, 468 U.S. 42, 47-48, 104 S.Ct. 2924, 2928-2929, 82 L.Ed.2d 36 (1984). Because no federal statute of limitations governs, federal courts routinely measure the timeliness of federal civil rights suits by state law. Id., at 49, 104 S.Ct., at 2929; Chardon v. Fumero Soto, 462 U.S. 650, 655-656, 103 S.Ct. 2611, 2615-2616, 77 L.Ed.2d 74 (1983); Johnson v. Railway Express Agency, Inc., 421 U.S. 454, 464, 95 S.Ct. 1716, 1722, 44 L.Ed.2d 295 (1975). This tradition of borrowing analogous limitations statutes, cf. O'Sullivan v. Felix, 233 U.S. 318, 34 S.Ct. 596, 58 L.Ed. 980 (1914), is based on a congressional decision to defer to "the State's judgment on the proper balance between the policies of repose and the substantive policies of enforcement embodied in the state cause of action." Wilson v. Garcia, 471 U.S. 261, 271, 105 S.Ct. 1938, 1944, 85 L.Ed.2d 254 (1985).4 "In virtually all statutes of limitations the chronological length of the limitation period is interrelated with provisions regarding tolling, revival, and questions of application." Johnson, supra, 421 U.S., at 464, 95 S.Ct., at 1722. Courts thus should not unravel state limitations rules unless their full application would defeat the goals of the federal statute at issue. See, e.g., Wilson, supra, 471 U.S., at 269, 105 S.Ct., at 1943; Chardon, supra, 462 U.S., at 657, 103 S.Ct., at 2616.
These principles were invoked in Board of Regents, University of New York v. Tomanio, supra, to review a contention that a § 1983 action was barred by New York's 3-year limitations statute. The District Court and the Court of Appeals had rejected the defense by relying on a "federal tolling rule" not contained among the tolling provisions the state legislature had codified with its limitations periods. Id., 446 U.S., at 482, 486, 100 S.Ct., at 1794, 1796. This Court reversed. Limitations periods in § 1983 suits are to be determined by reference to the appropriate "state statute of limitations and the coordinate tolling rules"; New York's legislative choices in this regard were therefore "binding rules of law." Id., at 484, 100 S.Ct., at 1795. Since the State's rules did not defeat either § 1983's chief goals of compensation and deterrence5 or its subsidiary goals of uniformity and federalism, the Court held that Tomanio's suit was time barred. Id., at 488-492, 100 S.Ct., at 1797-1799.
It is undisputed that the limitations period app