McCausland v. Mason County Bd. of Ed., 80-1780

• Decision Date: 27 May 1981
• Docket Number: No. 80-1780,80-1780
• Parties: Bright McCAUSLAND, Appellant, v. MASON COUNTY BOARD OF EDUCATION, a corporation; Harry Siders, individually and as President of said corporation; Bill Brady and Robert Adkins, individually and together with Harry Siders, constituting a majority of said Board of Education; Donald C. Kingery, Esq., individually and as counsel for said corporation as well as prosecuting attorney in Mason County, West Virginia; and Walter Villars, and Nellie Preston, Appellees.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Fourth Circuit

Page 278

649 F.2d 278

Bright McCAUSLAND, Appellant, v. MASON COUNTY BOARD OF EDUCATION, a corporation; Harry

Siders, individually and as President of said corporation;

Bill Brady and Robert Adkins, individually and together with

Harry Siders, constituting a majority of said Board of

Education; Donald C. Kingery, Esq., individually and as

counsel for said corporation as well as prosecuting attorney

in Mason County, West Virginia; and Walter Villars, and

Nellie Preston, Appellees.

No. 80-1780.

United States Court of Appeals, Fourth Circuit.

Argued April 8, 1981.

Decided May 27, 1981.

Harry Alan Sherman, Pittsburgh, Pa. (Donald R. Wilson, Preiser & Wilson, Charleston, W. Va., on brief), for appellant.

Jerry N. Ragan, Huntington, W. Va. (John F. Wood, Jr., Wood, Grim & Delp, Huntington, W. Va., on brief), John J. Nesius, S. Charleston, W. Va. (Davis & Nesius, S. Charleston, W. Va., on brief), (David Nibert, Kingery & Nibert, Charles J. Hyer, Hyer & Littlepage; R. Michael Shaw, Shaw & Stein, Point Pleasant, W. Va., on brief), for appellees.

Before WINTER, Chief Judge, HAYNSWORTH, Senior Circuit Judge, and HALL, Circuit Judge.

WINTER, Chief Judge:

Bright McCausland appeals from the judgment of the district court dismissing his complaint under 42 U.S.C. §§ 1981, 1982, 1983, 1985 and 1986 (1976), because the West Virginia statute of limitations barred his claims. We think the district court applied the statute properly and affirm.

McCausland filed his federal complaint over five years after the Mason County Board of Education discharged him from his post as a high school principal. The essence of his claim is that he was deprived of his liberty and property interests in his teaching position without due process of law.

For the most part, the Reconstruction Civil Rights Acts do not provide specifically for limitations on the time in which claims thereunder may be brought. The federal courts therefore borrow an appropriate limitations period from the state in which the claims arose. Under the law of West Virginia applicable here, the limitations period for actions brought on contracts is five or ten years, W.Va.Code § 55-2-6, and the limitations period for actions brought for personal injuries is two years, id. § 55-2-12. McCausland contends that the basis of his action stems from the Board of Education's breach of his teaching contract, and that the five or ten-year limitation on contract actions should therefore apply.

We have consistently held, however, that the Reconstruction Civil Rights Acts create causes of action "where there has been injury, under color of state law, to the person or to the constitutional or federal statutory rights which emanate from or are guaranteed to the person." Almond v. Kent, 459 F.2d 200, 204 (4 Cir. 1972); accord, Allen v. Gifford, 462 F.2d 615 (4 Cir.), cert. denied, 409 U.S. 876, 93 S.Ct. 128, 34 L.Ed.2d 130 (1972); McCrary v. Runyon, 515 F.2d 1082, 1097 (4 Cir. 1975), aff'd, 427 U.S. 160, 180-82, 96 S.Ct....