Price v. Philpot
| Citation | 420 F.3d 1158 |
| Decision Date | 23 August 2005 |
| Docket Number | No. 04-7121.<SMALL><SUP>*</SUP></SMALL>,04-7121.<SMALL><SUP>*</SUP></SMALL> |
| Parties | Daniel Joe PRICE, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. Johnny PHILPOT, Sheriff; Roy Coleman, Undersheriff; Kenneth Wilson, Deputy; Kelly Karnes, Deputy; Clint Johnson, Agent; Frank Lloyd, Agent; Gary Philpot, Chief of Police; Beau Gabbert, Sallisaw Police Department; John Owens, Sallisaw Police Department; David Bethany, Sallisaw Police Department; Roger Fuller, Muldrow Policy Department; Cody Hyde, Oklahoma Highway Patrol Department; and others known and unknown, Defendants-Appellees, and Raymond Martin, Defendant. |
| Court | United States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (10th Circuit) |
Daniel Joe Price, pro se.
Chris J. Collins and Stephen L. Geries, Collins, Zorn & Wagner, P.C., Oklahoma City, OK; Kent R. McGuire and Kathryn D. Terry, Whitten Nelson McGuire Terry & Roselius, Oklahoma City, OK; Angela K. Martin, Oklahoma Attorney General's Office, Oklahoma City, OK, collectively for Defendants-Appellees.
Before EBEL, McKAY and HENRY, Circuit Judges.
Plaintiff Daniel Joe Price ("Plaintiff" or "Price") brought this civil rights action pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983 alleging violations of his constitutional rights by several state and local law enforcement officers (collectively "Defendants"). The district court dismissed all of Price's claims after applying Oklahoma's two-year statute of limitations, Heck v. Humphrey, 512 U.S. 477, 114 S.Ct. 2364, 129 L.Ed.2d 383 (1994), and the Oklahoma Governmental Tort Claims Act ("OGTCA") Okla. Stat. tit. 51, § 153(B) (2000). We have jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1291. We AFFIRM in part, REVERSE in part, and REMAND.
Price's complaint alleges that on June 14, 2000, several state and local law enforcement officers commenced an illegal search or "raid of violence" at his home. According to Price, this search involved officers stealing and destroying Price's personal property, including a dog, and officers using unnecessary force against Price. Before this court, Price complains that after he was shot at by officers during this "raid" he was forced to flee his home.
Three months later, on September 14, 2000, Price was found and arrested. Price alleges that four of the named Defendants physically assaulted him in the course of this arrest and some or all of these four Defendants also stole his personal property following arrest.
Ultimately, Price pled guilty to being a felon in possession of firearms and to assaulting or impeding a federal officer. United States v. Price, 50 Fed.Appx. 968, 969 (10th Cir.2002). While still incarcerated, Price filed this civil rights complaint in federal district court on June 18, 2002, alleging several constitutional violations arising from Defendants' actions on or about the dates of June 14, 2000, and September 14, 2000.
The named Defendants in this case proceeded before the district court in three groups and are identified herein as follows:
"Sheriff Defendants": Johnny Philpot, Roy Coleman, Roger Fuller, Kenneth Wilson, Raymond Martin,1 and Kelly Karnes,
"State Defendants": Cody Hyde, Clint Johnson, and Frank Lloyd, and
"Police Defendants": Gary Philpot, Beau Gabbert, John Owens, and David Bethany.
All of these Defendants, except Roger Fuller and Cody Hyde, are implicated in Price's June 14, 2000, search-related claims. Four Defendants are implicated in Price's September 14, 2000, arrest-related claims: Johnny Philpot, Roy Coleman, Roger Fuller, and Cody Hyde.
Upon motions to dismiss from the State and Police Defendants, the district court held that a two-year statute of limitations applied to bar Price's "claims concerning his alleged injuries resulting from the search on June 14, 2000" because his complaint was filed with the district court on June 18, 2002—outside the two-year limitations period. Next, the court said Price's separate claim for damages based on the unconstitutionality of "the actual search of his property" was premature under Heck v. Humphrey, 512 U.S. 477, 114 S.Ct. 2364, 129 L.Ed.2d 383 (1994). Finally, the court treated Price's claim that Hyde stole Price's property upon arrest as a state tort action and determined it was barred because Price had not complied with the Oklahoma Governmental Tort Claims Act ("OGTCA"), Okla. Stat. tit. 51, § 153(B) (2000). In its conclusion, the court expressly stated that all claims against these Defendants were dismissed.
The Sheriff Defendants then moved to adopt the State and Police Defendants' motion to dismiss and asked that the court's order of dismissal be "clarified" to dismiss all claims against the Sheriff Defendants as well. In a minute order approximately a year later, the district court granted the Sheriff Defendants' motion and modified its original dismissal order to expressly include dismissal of the Sheriff Defendants. That same day, the court denied Price's pending motion to reconsider.
This pro se appeal followed. We take jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1291 and AFFIRM in part, REVERSE in part, and REMAND.
On appeal, Price raises three main issues. Because Price proceeds pro se, we liberally construe his pleadings. See Haines v. Kerner, 404 U.S. 519, 520-21, 92 S.Ct. 594, 30 L.Ed.2d 652 (1972). First, he argues that the district court erred in determining that his claims were barred by the applicable two-year statute of limitations because either (1) the accrual date is not June 14, 2000, or (2) the prison mailbox rule applies to make his complaint timely. Second, Price claims that the district court improperly converted Defendants' motions to dismiss to motions for summary judgment without the necessary notice to Price. Finally, Price asserts that the district court abused its discretion by denying Price's motion to reconsider. Before this court, Price does not challenge the district court's application of Heck v. Humphrey or the application of OGTCA to Price's arrest-related property claims.
In a civil rights action brought under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, we apply the applicable state statute of limitations. Abbitt v. Franklin, 731 F.2d 661, 663 (10th Cir.1984) (en banc). In this case, Oklahoma's two-year statute of limitations applies. See id.
Price argues that the district court erred by setting a single accrual date of June 14, 2000, for the vast majority of his claims. Specifically, Price claims some or all of his claims arose later than the district court determined, thereby making his filing on June 18, 2002, timely as to those claims. He further asserts that, even if the court was correct that the accrual date for some or all of his claims was June 14, 2000, then the prison mailbox rule should apply to make Price's complaint timely filed on June 14, 2002.
When a claim accrues, and thus when the limitations period begins to run, is a question of federal law. Smith v. City of Enid, 149 F.3d 1151, 1154 (10th Cir.1998) "A civil rights action accrues when the plaintiff knows or has reason to know of the injury which is the basis of the action." Baker v. Bd. of Regents, 991 F.2d 628, 632 (10th Cir.1993). Indeed, "it is not necessary that a claimant know all of the evidence ultimately relied on for the cause of action to accrue." Id.; see also Johnson v. Johnson County Comm'n Bd., 925 F.2d 1299, 1301 (10th Cir.1991) ().
Price's complaint makes clear he is asserting separate claims arising from both the June 14, 2000, search of his home and from his September 14, 2000, arrest. Indeed, Price emphasizes this on appeal by noting that "[t]he complaint outlines two different dates, one the date of the search (i.e., June 14, 2000) and two, the date of arrest (i.e., September 14, 2000)."
Thus, Price's pleadings argue that his excessive force upon arrest claims are separate from his search-related claims and accrued instead on the day of his arrest, September 14, 2000. Specifically, Price asserts that "his physical beating claim survives the statutory bar where occurring moments after his September 14, 2000, arrest."
We agree. The initiation of the June 14 search did not put Price on notice that he would have an excessive force upon arrest claim arising three months later. It is clear that Price is making a separate constitutional claim of abuse, dealing with a specific subset of named Defendants, occurring at his September 14, 2000 arrest. The district court erroneously lumped all of Price's abuse claims into a single claim arising upon the initiation of the search on June 14, 2000. Therefore, we reverse and remand Price's arrest-related excessive force claims for further proceedings.3
Next, Price argues before this court that even his search-related claims accrued after June 14, 2000, because (a) Price fled the scene and was unaware of the extent of the violations resulting from the unlawful search until after that date; and (b) the search itself was not completed for several days.
We disagree. The law requires only that the claimant "knows or has reason to know of the injury" before the limitations period begins to run. Baker, 991 F.2d at 632. Indeed, the claimant need not even know "all of the evidence" before the cause of action accrues. Id.
Price may not have known the full extent of his property-related injuries on June 14, 2000, when the search was initiated; however, in his complaint, he acknowledges that he was present when Defendants arrived and allegedly began shooting. Even if Price's own flight may have prevented him from immediately surveying the extent of his property loss, and even if we assume the search did occur over several days, Price certainly "had reason to know" that the events giving rise to this action were occurring as early as June 14, 2000. There...
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