Baker v. Birmingham Bd. of Educ., No. 07-12349 (11th Cir. Jun. 25, 2008)
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit (AL, FL, GA) has reversed a U.S. district ruling that a former teacher’s Section 1981 claims for race discrimination and retaliation brought under Section 1983 were barred by § 1983’s two-year statute of limitations. Section 1981 ensures equal legal rights for all citizens and among other things allows employees to claims of race discrimination by private employers. Section 1983 allows a plaintiff to sue a public official who, acting under color of state law, violates rights secured by the federal constitution or statutes. Section 1981 does not provide a cause of action against state actors; instead, claims against state actors or allegations of § 1981 violations must be brought pursuant to § 1983. Physical education teacher Bruce Baker sued the Birmingham, Alabama, Board of Education, alleging that his termination was racially motivated. The U.S. district court dismissed his suit, concluding that it was time-barred by § 1983’s two-year statute of limitations.
On appeal, the Fifth Circuit concluded the claims were subject to the four-year applicable to § 1981, even though the teacher’s suit was brought under § 1983. The appeals court repudiated its previous ruling on the question, which was issued in an unpublished, and therefore non-binding, opinion. Instead, the court looked to a 1990 statute, 28 U.S.C. § 1658, which provides a four-year, catchall limitations period applicable to civil action arising under an Act of Congress enacted after December 1, 1990. Relying on the U.S. Supreme Court’s broad interpretation of 28 U.S.C. § 1658 in Jones v. R.R. Donnelley & Sons Co., 541 U.S. 369 (2004), that “a cause of action ‘aris[es] under an Act of Congress enacted’ after December 1, 1990—and therefore is governed by § 1658’s 4-year statute of limitations—if the plaintiff’s claim against the defendant was made possible by a post-1990 enactment,” the Eleventh Circuit concluded that four-year statute of limitations applied in this case because the teacher’s claims against the school board were made possible only by a post-1990 enactment to § 1981.
Baker v. Birmingham Bd. of Educ., No. 07-12349 (11th Cir. Jun. 25, 2008)