Court Opinion

ID: 9568710
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 20:06:50.3287+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T10:56:56.803721
License: Public Domain

Justice Mitchell
dissenting.
Giving the words used by the General Assembly in N.C.G.S. § 1-54(3), their plain, ordinary and universally accepted meanings, the one-year limitation period provided by that statute narrowly and specifically applies to actions for assault and false imprisonment, including those in which the defendant is a police officer. We have expressly so construed the statute for thirty-five years. Mobley v. Broome, 248 N.C. 54, 102 S.E.2d 407 (1958). Accord Evans v. Chipps, 56 N.C. App. 232, 287 S.E.2d 426 (1982); Jones v. City of Greensboro, 51 N.C. App. 571, 277 S.E.2d 562 (1981). The parties in this case were entitled to rely upon the statute as authoritatively construed by this Court. Believing as I do in the doctrine of stare decisis, I must respectfully dissent from the decision and holding of the majority that the one-year statute of limitation, N.C.G.S. § 1-54(3), is not available to the defendants in this case.