Wilson v. Garcia
- Decided
- April 17, 1985
- Docket
- 83-2146
- Status
- Published
- Jurisdiction
- Federal
Cited 4,134 timesSuperseded by statute (verified)Possible negative treatment: superseded by statute, abrogated on other grounds, overruled in part, overruled on other grounds (17 of 199 verified; none is a verified overruling) · Smith-Dandridge v. Geanolous
What later courts said
- holding that the appropriate state statute of limitations to borrow for section 1983 actions is that for recovery of damages for personal injuries — Bibeau v. Pacific Northwest Research Foundation (1999)
- holding that section 1983 actions are best analogized to "tort action[s] for recovery of damages for personal injuries" for statute of limitations purposes — Garcia v. Board Of Education Of The Socorro Consolidated School District (1985)
- holding that state's personal injury statute of limitations is most appropriate for § 1983 actions — (untitled) (1999)
Each line is a later court’s own words about this case, not a summary. Read the opinion before relying on it.
How the opinion begins
Justice Stevens delivered the opinion of the Court.
In this case we must determine the most appropriate state statute of limitations to apply to claims enforceable under § 1 of the Civil Rights Act of 1871,[1] which is codified in its present form as 42 U. S. C. § 1983.
[*263] On January 28, 1982, respondent brought this § 1983 action in the United States District Court for the District of New Mexico seeking “money damages to compensate him for the deprivation of his civil rights guaranteed by the Fourth, Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution and for the personal injuries he suffered which were caused by the acts and omissions of the [petitioners] acting under color of law.” App. 4. The complaint alleged that on April 27, 1979, petitioner Wilson, a New Mexico State Police officer, unlawfully arrested the respondent, “brutally and viciously” beat him, and sprayed his face with tear gas; that petitioner Vigil, the Chief of the New Mexico State Police, had notice of Officer Wilson’s allegedly “violent propensities,” and had failed to reprimand him for committing other unprovoked attacks on citizens; and that Vigil’s training and supervision of Wilson was seriously deficient. Id., at 6-7.
Statutes cited
Cite this
Wilson v. Garcia, 471 U.S. 261 (1985)Read the full opinion
Reading the library on this site uses your account’s daily calls, the same as the connector and the API. The Free plan needs no card. Calls a day on each plan.