MARK COOPER, PLAINTIFF-APPELLANT,
v.
CITY OF ASHLAND; BRIAN ALMQUIST; VIC LIVELY; MEL CLEMENTS; JOHN DOES I-V, DEFENDANTS-APPELLEES

9th Cir. | 1989-04-03
No. 87-4187
Before MERRILL, REINHARDT and HALL, Circuit Judges.
871 F.2d 104 United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit (1989) Negative Treatment
Cited by 8 cases

AI-generated. These summaries, headnotes, and key points are machine-generated and may contain errors or omissions. Always verify against the full opinion text below. Not legal advice.


Holding

The court held that the plaintiff's complaint was timely filed because it was received by the clerk's office before the statute of limitations expired, even considering weekends and holidays.


Facts & Procedural History

Cooper appealed the district court's grant of summary judgment, which was based on the statute of limitations. Cooper's complaint alleged a violation …

The full statement of facts, procedural history, and disposition for this case are member content.

Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence

© FLexlaw, Inc. — AI-generated enrichments are proprietary. All rights reserved.


Opinion of the Court
PER CURIAM:

PER CURIAM:

Cooper appeals pro se the district court’s grant of summary judgment in favor of the defendants in this action under 42 U.S.C. § 1983. We reverse.

Cooper’s complaint alleged that he had been arrested in violation of his Fourteenth Amendment constitutional rights “on or about October 11, 1984.” Cooper mailed the complaint on October 9, 1986, return receipt requested. The return receipt was signed by an employee in the clerk’s office and dated October 13, 1986. The complaint itself was stamped “received” on October 15, 1986, and stamped “filed” on October 21, 1986. The district court granted summary judgment in favor of the respondents on the ground that the complaint was barred by the statute of limitations.

Oregon’s two-year statute of limitations for personal injury actions applies to actions under 42 U.S.C. § 1983. See Or. Rev.Stat. § 12.110(1); Owens v. Okure, — U.S. —, 109 S.Ct. 573, 102 L.Ed. 2d 594 (1989); Wilson v. Garcia, 471 U.S. 261, 280, 105 S.Ct. 1938, 1949, 85 L.Ed.2d 254 (1985); Davis v. Harvey, 789 F. 2d 1332, 1333 (9th Cir.1986). The last day for timely filing of Cooper’s complaint would ordinarily have been October 11, 1986, but that date was a Saturday. The following Monday, October 13, 1986, was Columbus Day, a legal holiday. The last day for timely filing of Cooper’s complaint was therefore Tuesday, October 14, 1986. See Fed.R.Civ.P. 6(a). When papers are mailed to the clerk’s office, filing is complete when the papers are received by the clerk. 2 J. Moore, Moore’s Federal Practice ¶ 5.11 (2d ed. 1988); 4A C. Wright & A. Miller, Federal Practice and Procedure § 1153 (2d ed. 1987); see also Torras Herreria y Construcciones, S.A. v. M/V Timur Star, 803 F. 2d 215, 216 (6th Cir.1986). Because the clerk’s office received the complaint on October 13, 1986, before the statute of limitations expired, the complaint was timely filed.

REVERSED and REMANDED.


Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus


Citator

Cited By

Previewing 3 of 8 citing cases — full citator treatment, depth of discussion, and citing context are member features.

Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence

Authorities Cited

Full citator, related cases, and AI research tools

Open in FLexlaw