Court Opinion

ID: 9476121
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 05:47:44.000037+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:45:08.039571
License: Public Domain

REAVLEY, Circuit Judge,
dissenting:
The present case is factually distinguishable from Shelby v. McAdory, 781 F.2d 1053 (5th Cir.1986), and Young v. Biggers, 816 F.2d 216 (5th Cir.1987). In those cases the actions arose prior to 1982 when we decided Morrell v. City of Picayune, 690 F.2d 469 (5th Cir.1982). In the Fairley case at hand the action arose in 1983.
The significance of the Morrell date was its holding, for the first time by this court, that “the one-year statute governing actions for intentional torts by ordinary citizens does not apply to torts by police.” Id. at 470. The Morrell court applied a six-year limitation period. Fairley was entitled to rely on that precedent, and the analysis of Chevron Oil Co. v. Huson, 404 U.S. 97, 92 S.Ct. 349, 30 L.Ed.2d 296 (1971), protected him from retroactivity of our change to the one-year limitation rule in Gates v. Spinks, 771 F.2d 916 (5th Cir.1985).
Shelby failed to consider the Chevron test and was incorrectly decided. Now we extend the error despite the significant difference of fact.