Conde v. Beltrán Peña

793 F. Supp. 33, 1992 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 9561, 1992 WL 144992
CourtDistrict Court, D. Puerto Rico
DecidedJune 23, 1992
DocketCiv. No. 91-1924(PG)
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 793 F. Supp. 33 (Conde v. Beltrán Peña) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Puerto Rico primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Conde v. Beltrán Peña, 793 F. Supp. 33, 1992 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 9561, 1992 WL 144992 (prd 1992).

Opinion

OPINION AND ORDER

PEREZ-GIMENEZ, District Judge.

Plaintiff, Albert Conde, brings this action under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 for back pay, damages and injunctive relief alleging that he was dismissed from his employment with the Municipality of Juncos for political reasons, in violation of his rights under the First Amendment and under the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States.

Co-defendant Rafael Beltrán Peña, May- or of Juncos, his wife, Nancy Velázquez Algarin, and the conjugal partnership between them, filed a motion to dismiss raising issues of timeliness and failure to state a cognizable claim against Beltrán Peña’s wife.

The Municipality of Juncos filed a motion to dismiss alleging that the action is time barred.

Plaintiff filed a “Reply and Opposition to Co-Defendant Municipality of Juncos, its Mayor and His Spouse[’s] Motion to Dismiss and Memorandum of Law in Support Thereof.”

Co-defendant Municipality of Juncos filed a reply to plaintiff’s opposition to co-defendant’s motion to dismiss. Defendants Bel-trán Peña, his wife, and the conjugal partnership filed a motion to join the municipality’s reply.

Facts

After the general elections in 1988, the incumbent Mayor of Juncos, César Torres, a member of the New Progressive Party (“NPP”) was replaced by co-defendant Bel-[34]*34trán Peña, a member of the Popular Democratic Party (“PDP”).

Plaintiff, a career employee of the Municipality of Juncos, received a “dismissal of employment letter” from the Mayor, Beltrán Peña, on July 30, 1990. The letter stated that the dismissal became effective on'July 31,1990. He filed the complaint on July 30, 1991.

Discussion

Both parties agree that the applicable state law statute of limitations in section 1983 actions is the one-year tort statute, 31 L.P.R.A. §§ 5141, 5298. Defendants argue that since plaintiff was informed of the dismissal on July 30, 1990, he had until July 29, 1991, to file the complaint. Conde did not file the same until July 30, 1991, thus, defendants claim he is barred by the statute of limitations. Plaintiff sustains that the action is not barred because the one-year period starts to count on July 31, 1990, the date his dismissal became effective, and not on July 30, 1990, when he received the dismissal letter. Plaintiff also alleges that the period of prescription was interrupted or tolled by his letter dated August 2, 1990, requesting an administrative review of his dismissal.

There are two key questions in this case, to wit: when does the cause of action accrue and when does the applicable statute of limitations begins to run. To answer the question we must first determine which law applies, federal or state law.

The First Circuit Court of Appeals has issued inconsistent opinions in relation to these key questions. These inconsistencies have led this Court astray.

On April 2,1986, U.S. District Judge José A. Fusté issued an opinion on Ramirez Morales v. Rosa Viera, 632 F.Supp. 491 (D.P.R.1986), wherein applying sections 1868 and 1869 of the Civil Code of Puerto Rico, 31 L.P.R.A. §§ 5298, 5299, he held that the first day of the one-year period is to be counted towards prescription. The Ramirez Morales case was affirmed, 815 F.2d 2 (1st Cir.1987) (plaintiffs received notice of decedent’s death on March 26, 1984, and statute of limitations expired on March 25, 1985). Following the Ramirez Morales case, on January 2, 1990, the undersigned held in a section 1983 case that the first day of the limitations period must be counted towards prescription. See Olivo Ayala v. López Feliciano, 729 F.Supp. 9 (D.P.R.1990).

On January 8, 1990, the First Circuit issued an opinion stating that “[t]he accrual period for a Section 1983 action begins when the plaintiff knows or has reason to know of the injury which is the basis of the action.” (citation omitted).1 Torres v. Superintendent of Police of Puerto Rico, 893 F.2d 404, 407 (1st Cir.1990). However, even though the Court concluded that plaintiffs were notified of their dismissal on June 18, 1987, they held that to have a timely cause of action, the plaintiffs had to file their claim by June 19, 1988.2

Following the Ramirez Morales opinion, the undersigned again held in a § 1983 case that the first day of the limitations period had to be counted. See Alfredo Luciano v. Ortiz Alvarez, Civil Case No. 90-1558 (Opinion and Order of June 12, 1991).

The Ortiz Alvarez case was reversed and remanded; see Slip Op. 91-1802 (1st Cir. November 15, 1991) [953 F.2d 632 (table) ]. The Court stated:

The parties agree, as do we, that under the controlling Puerto Rican case law, the one year prescriptive period expires [35]*35on the anniversary of the accrual of the cause of action, not on the day before. The cases hold, contrary to the district court, that the first day does not count towards prescription. See Escalera v. Andino, 76 P.R.R. 251 (1954).

This opinion is inconsistent with the Ramirez Morales opinion.

After the Ortiz Alvarez order was issued, the Court was faced again with the issue of “whether the one-year prescriptive period for filing a section 1983 claim begins to run on the day when plaintiff knows or has reason to know of the injury which is the basis for the action, or whether it begins to run the day following the injury or plaintiffs knowledge of it.” Ayala del Valle v. Delgado Zayas, Civil Case No. 91-1418 (Opinion and Order of April 1, 1992). Restrained by the First Circuit order of Ortiz Alvarez, and the unclear opinion of Torres v. Superintendent of Police of Puerto Rico, supra, we applied Puerto Rico law and started the computation of the one-year limitations period the day following plaintiffs injury or his knowledge of it.

We are once again faced with the same temporal issue. Upon a further research of the issue, we found the recent case of Rivera-Muriente v. Agosto-Alicea, 959 F.2d 349 (1st Cir.1992). The First Circuit established that ‘'[although the statute of limitations in section 1983 actions is determined by recourse to the law of the forum state, the date of accrual of such an action is determined in accordance with federal law. (Citations omitted).” The accrual period in a section 1983 case ordinarily starts when the plaintiff knows, or has reason to know, of the injury on which the action is based. (Citations omitted). Id. at 353. The Court asked the key question of when did plaintiff know, or have reason to know that he had been deprived of his employment without a pretermination hearing. The Court answered:

In employment discrimination cases involving wrongful discharges, the statute of limitations begins to run when the plaintiff learns of the decision to terminate his employment (even if the notice he receives is informal). (Citation omitted).

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Bluebook (online)
793 F. Supp. 33, 1992 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 9561, 1992 WL 144992, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/conde-v-beltran-pena-prd-1992.