Opinion ID: 882030
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Assault Claim Against Officer Martelli

Text: The District Court ruled that the assault cause against the individual defendants was barred by § 27-2-204(3), MCA, the two year statute of limitation for assault claims. Rouse argues that because the defendants are law enforcement officers of Anaconda-Deer Lodge County, his cause of action is governed by a different statute, namely § 27-2-209(1), MCA. The latter provides: 27-2-209. Actions against local government or local government official. (1) The period prescribed for the commencement of an action against a sheriff, coroner, or constable upon a liability incurred by the doing of an act in his official capacity and in virtue of his office or by the omission of an official duty, including the nonpayment of money collected upon an execution, is within 3 years; but this subsection does not apply for an action for an escape. The District Court ruled that this section does not apply because none of the officials listed in the statute are involved in the instant case. We agree. There is authority that the statute does not apply to these types of actions, see Dixon v. Seymour (N.Y. 1978), 62 A.D.2d 444, 405 N.Y.S.2d 320, 321-22; Ingo v. Koch (2d Cir.1942), 127 F.2d 667, 671; 80 C.J.S., Sheriffs and Constables, Sec. 151(b) (1953). However, even assuming they do apply, neither Officer Martelli nor Officer Cutler is a sheriff or coroner within the plain meaning of the statute. Rather, they are law enforcement officers of a consolidated city-county government entity. Furthermore, they are not constables within the true meaning of that word. Black's Law Dictionary (6th Edition 1990) defines constable as [a]n officer of a municipal corporation (usually elected) whose duties are similar to those of the sheriff, though his powers are less and his jurisdiction smaller. He is to preserve the public peace, execute the process of magistrates' courts, and of some other tribunals, serve writs, attend the sessions of the criminal courts, have the custody of juries, and discharge other functions sometimes assigned to him by the local law or by statute. Powers and duties of constables have generally been replaced by sheriffs. We also note that in at least one other jurisdiction where a similar statute of limitation has been held to apply to the tortious acts of law enforcement officials, the statute contains the words peace officer rather than sheriff and constable. See Jenkins v. Daniels (Aka. 1988), 751 P.2d 19, 21. On the other hand, the wording of § 27-2-209(1), MCA, is virtually unchanged from the original statute contained in the Field Code and first enacted in New York in 1829. See Dixon, 405 N.Y.S.2d at 321. If the legislature intended this limitation period to apply to all peace officers for all their tortious acts, it could have so amended it. Thus, the two year statute of limitation contained in § 27-2-204(3), MCA, applies to Rouse's assault claim against Martelli, and it is thus barred.