Opinion ID: 614999
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Battery Claims Against Individual Officers

Text: Under Minnesota law, a party must commence an action for battery within two years. Minn.Stat. § 541.07. A civil action is commenced against the defendant when the summons is served upon that defendant. Minn. R. Civ. P. 3.01. If state law requires service to commence an action, state law, and not Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 3, governs for the purposes of the state statute of limitations. Anderson v. Unisys Corp., 47 F.3d 302, 309 (8th Cir.1995). The district court dismissed Johnson's common law battery claims against the officers as untimely because the two-year statute of limitations period expired on December 19, 2008, and the officers were not served until February and March 2009. Johnson contends that service is timely and proper for each appealed claim, but she has failed to explain how her battery claims against the officers were commenced within the statute of limitations, and we therefore agree that the district court properly dismissed those claims.