Lead Opinion
delivered the opinion of the Court.
Petitioner filed suit under Rev. Stat. § 1979, 42 U. S. C. §1983, seeking damages for an arrest that violated the Fourth Amendment. We decide whether his suit is timely.
I
On January 17,1994, John Handy was shot to death in the city of Chicago. Sometime around 8 p.m. two days later, Chicago police officers located petitioner, then 15 years of age, and transported him to a police station for questioning. After interrogations that lasted into the early morning hours the next day, petitioner agreed to confess to Handy’s murder. An assistant state’s attorney prepared a statement to this effect, and petitioner signed it, at the same time waiving his Miranda rights.
Prior to trial in the Circuit Court of Cook County, petitioner unsuccessfully attempted to suppress his station house statements as the product of an unlawful arrest. He was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to 26 years in prison. On direct appeal, the Appellate Court of Illinois held that officers had arrested petitioner without probable cause, in violation of the Fourth Amendment. People v. Wallace, 299 111. App. 3d 9, 17-18,
On April 2,2003, petitioner filed this § 1983 suit against the city of Chicago and several Chicago police officers, seeking damages arising from, inter alia, his unlawful arrest.
II
Section 1983 provides a federal cause of action, but in several respects relevant here federal law looks to the law of the State in which the cause of action arose. This is so for the length of the statute of limitations: It is that which the State provides for personal-injury torts. Owens v. Okure,
While we have never stated so expressly, the accrual date of a § 1983 cause of action is a question of federal law that is not resolved by reference to state law. The parties agree, the Seventh Circuit in this case so held, see
There is, however, a refinement to be considered, arising from the common law’s distinctive treatment of the torts of false arrest and false imprisonment, “[t]he . . . causefs] of action [that] provid[e] the closest analogy to claims of the type considered here,” Heck, supra, at 484. See 1 D. Dobbs, Law of Torts §47, p. 88 (2001). False arrest and false imprisonment overlap; the former is a species of the latter. “Every confinement of the person is an imprison
The running of the statute of limitations on false imprisonment is subject to a distinctive rule — dictated, perhaps, by the reality that the victim may not be able to sue while he is still imprisoned: “Limitations begin to run against an action for false imprisonment when the alleged false imprisonment ends.” 2 H. Wood, Limitation of Actions §187d(4), p. 878 (rev. 4th ed. 1916); see also 4 Restatement (Second) of Torts §899, Comment c (1977); A. Underhill, Principles of Law of Torts 202 (1881). Thus, to determine the beginning of the limitations period in this case, we must determine when petitioner’s false imprisonment came to an end.
Reflective of the fact that false imprisonment consists of detention without legal process, a false imprisonment ends once the victim becomes held pursuant to such process— when, for example, he is bound over by a magistrate or arraigned on charges. 1 Dobbs, supra, § 39, at 74, n. 2; Keeton, supra, § 119, at 888; H. Stephen, Actions for Malicious Prose
We conclude that the statute of limitations on petitioner’s § 1988 claim commenced to run when he appeared before the examining magistrate and was bound over for trial. Since more than two years elapsed between that date and the filing
Ill
This would end the matter, were it not for petitioner’s contention that Heck v. Humphrey,
“[I]n order to recover damages for allegedly unconstitutional conviction or imprisonment, or for other harm caused by actions whose unlawfulness would render a conviction or sentence invalid, a §1983 plaintiff must prove that the conviction or sentence has been reversed on direct appeal, expunged by executive order, declared invalid by a state tribunal authorized to make such determination, or called into question by a federal court’s issuance of a writ of habeas corpus, 28 U. S. C. § 2254. A claim for damages bearing that relationship to a conviction or sentence that has not been so invalidated is not cognizable under §1983.” Id., at 486-487 (footnote omitted).
We rested this conclusion upon “the hoary principle that civil tort actions are not appropriate vehicles for challenging the validity of outstanding criminal judgments.” Id., at 486. “ ‘Congress,’ ” we said, “ ‘has determined that habeas corpus is the appropriate remedy for state prisoners attacking the validity of the fact or length of their confinement, and that specific determination must override the general terms of § 1983.’ ” Id., at 482 (quoting Preiser v. Rodriguez,
What petitioner seeks, in other words, is the adoption of a principle that goes well beyond Heck: that an action which would impugn an anticipated future conviction cannot be brought until that conviction occurs and is set aside. The impractieality of such a rule should be obvious. In an action for false arrest it would require the plaintiff (and if he brings suit promptly, the court) to speculate about whether a prosecution will be brought, whether it will result in conviction, and whether the pending civil action will impugn that verdict, see Heck,
We are not disposed to embrace this bizarre extension of Heck. If a plaintiff files a false-arrest claim before he has been convicted (or files any other claim related to rulings that will likely be made in a pending or anticipated criminal trial), it is within the power of the district court, and in ac
There is, however, one complication that we must address here. It arises from the fact that § 1983 actions, unlike the tort of malicious prosecution which Heck took as its model, see id., at 484, sometimes accrue before the setting aside of— indeed, even before the existence of — the related criminal conviction. That of course is the case here, and it raises the question whether, assuming that the Heck bar takes effect when the later conviction is obtained, the statute of limitations on the once valid cause of action is tolled as long as the Heck bar subsists. In the context of the present case: If petitioner’s conviction on April 19, 1996, caused the statute of limitations on his (possibly) impugning but yet-to-be-filed cause of action to be tolled until that conviction was set aside, his filing here would have been timely.
We have generally referred to state law for tolling rules, just as we have for the length of statutes of limitations. Hardin v. Straub,
* * *
We hold that the statute of limitations upon a § 1983 claim seeking damages for a false arrest in violation of the Fourth Amendment, where the arrest is followed by criminal proceedings, begins to run at the time the claimant becomes detained pursuant to legal process. Since in the present case this occurred (with appropriate tolling for the plaintiff’s minority) more than two years before the complaint was filed, the suit was out of time. The judgment of the Court of Appeals is affirmed.
It is so ordered.
Notes
All of petitioner’s other state and federal claims were resolved adversely to him and are not before us. We expressly limited our grant of certiorari to the Fourth Amendment false-arrest claim. See
We have never explored the contours of a Fourth Amendment malicious-prosecution suit under § 1983, see Albright v. Oliver,
This is not to say, of course, that petitioner could not have filed suit immediately upon his false arrest. While the statute of limitations did not begin to run until petitioner became detained pursuant to legal process, he was injured and suffered damages at the moment of his arrest,
Had petitioner filed suit upon his arrest and had his suit then been dismissed under Heck, the statute of limitations, absent tolling, would have run by the time he obtained reversal of his conviction. If under those circumstances he were not allowed to refile his suit, Heck would produce immunity from § 1983 liability, a result surely not intended. Because in the present case petitioner did not file his suit within the limitations period, we need not decide, had he done so, how much time he would have had to refile the suit once the Heck bar was removed.
Justice Stevens reaches the same result by arguing that, under Stone v. Powell,
Insofar as Justice Stevens simply suggests that Heck has no bearing here because petitioner received a full and fair opportunity to litigate his Fourth Amendment claim in state court, the argument is equally untenable. At the time that petitioner became detained pursuant to legal process, it was impossible to predict whether this would be true. And even at the point when his limitations period ended, state proceedings on his conviction were ongoing; full and fair opportunity up to that point was not enough. Stone requires full and fair opportunity to litigate a Fourth Amendment claim “at trial and on direct review.”
Concurrence Opinion
with whom Justice Souter joins, concurring in the judgment.
While I do not disagree with the Court’s conclusion, I reach it by a more direct route. The alleged Fourth Amendment violation at issue in this case had two distinct consequences for petitioner: First, it provided him with a federal cause of action for damages under Rev. Stat. §1979, 42 U. S. C. § 1983, and second, it provided him with an objection to the admissibility of certain evidence in his state criminal trial. The crux of petitioner’s argument before this Court is that Heck v. Humphrey,
“[I]n order to recover damages for allegedly unconstitutional conviction or imprisonment, or for other harm caused by actions whose unlawfulness would render a*398 conviction or sentence invalid, a §1983 plaintiff must prove that the conviction or sentence has been reversed on direct appeal, expunged by executive order, declared invalid by a state tribunal authorized to make such determination, or called into question by a federal court’s issuance of a writ of habeas corpus, 28 U. S. C. § 2254.... Thus, when a state prisoner seeks damages in a § 1983 suit, the district court must consider whether a judgment in favor of the plaintiff would necessarily imply the invalidity of his conviction or sentence; if it would, the complaint must be dismissed unless the plaintiff can demonstrate that the conviction or sentence has already been invalidated.” Id., at 486-487 (footnote omitted).
Relying on this principle, petitioner contends that his federal cause of action did not accrue until after the criminal charges against him were dropped.
Unlike the majority, my analysis would not depend on any common-law tort analogies.
The Court regrettably lets the perfect become the enemy of the good. It eschews my reasoning because “[f]ederal habeas petitioners have sometimes succeeded in arguing that Stone’s general prohibition does not apply.” Ante, at 395, n. 5 (emphasis added). However, in the vast run of cases, a State will provide a habeas petitioner with “an opportunity for full and fair litigation of a Fourth Amendment claim,”
See Heck,
See id,., at 480 (“This case lies at the intersection of the two most fertile sources of federal-court prisoner litigation — the Civil Rights Act of 1871, Rev. Stat. § 1979, as amended, 42 U. S. C. § 1983, and the federal habeas corpus statute, 28 U. S. C. §2254”); id., at 491 (Souter, J., concurring in judgment) (“The Court begins its analysis as I would, by observing that ‘this case lies at the intersection of the two most fertile sources of federal-court prisoner litigation — the Civil Rights Act of 1871, . . . 42 U. S. C. §1983, and the federal habeas corpus statute, 28 U. S. C. §2254’”); id., at 490 (Thomas, J., concurring) (“The Court and Justice Souter correctly
See Spencer v. Kemna,
Dissenting Opinion
with whom Justice Ginsburg joins, dissenting.
I agree with the Court that the accrual date of a 42 U. S. C. § 1983 claim is not postponed by the presence of a possible bar to suit under Heck v. Humphrey,
The Court’s holding, however, simply leads to the question of what is to happen when, for example, the possibility of a Heck problem prevents the court from considering the merits of a § 1983 claim. And I disagree with the Court’s insistence upon a rule of law that would require immediate filing, followed by an uncertain system of stays, dismissals, and possible refiling. Ante, at 395, n. 4 (majority opinion); ante, at 399 (Stevens, J., concurring in judgment). I disagree because there is a well-established legal tool better able to deal with the problems presented by this type of suit.
Where a “plaintiff because of disability, irremediable lack of information, or other circumstances beyond his control just cannot reasonably be expected to sue in time,” courts have applied a doctrine of “equitable tolling.” Miller v. Runyon,
In particular, equitable tolling could apply where a § 1983 plaintiff reasonably claims that the unlawful behavior of which he complains was, or will be, necessary to a criminal conviction. It could toll the running of the limitations period: (1) from the time charges are brought until the time they are dismissed or the defendant is acquitted or convicted, and (2) thereafter during any period in which the criminal defendant challenges a conviction (on direct appeal, on state collateral challenge, or on federal habeas) and reasonably asserts the behavior underlying the § 1983 action as a ground for overturning the conviction.
I find it difficult to understand why the Court rejects the use of “equitable tolling” in regard to typical § 1983 plaintiffs. Ante, at 394. The Court’s alternative — file all § 1983 claims (including potentially Heck-barred claims) at once and then seek stays or be subject to dismissal and refiling — suffers serious practical disadvantages. For one thing, that approach would force all potential criminal defendants to file all potential § 1983 actions soon lest they lose those claims due to protracted criminal proceedings. For another, it would often require a federal court, seeking to determine whether to dismiss an action as Heck barred or to grant a stay, to consider issues likely being litigated in the criminal proceeding (Was the Constitution violated? Was the violation-related evidence necessary for conviction?). The federal court’s decision as to whether a claim was Heck barred (say, whether the alleged constitutional violation was central to the state criminal conviction) might later bind a state court on conviction review. Because of this, even a claim without a likely Heck bar might linger on a federal
Principles of equitable tolling avoid these difficulties. Since equitable tolling obviates the need for immediate filing, it permits the criminal proceedings to winnow the constitutional wheat from chaff, and thereby increase the likelihood that the constitutionally meritless claims will never (in a § 1983 action) see the light of day. See Allen v. McCurry,
Of course, § 1983 ordinarily borrows its limitations principles from state law. 42 U. S. C. § 1988(a). And I do not know whether or which States have comparable equitable tolling principles in place. If a given state court lacks the necessary tolling provision, however, § 1983, in my view, permits the federal courts to devise and impose such principles. See Hardin v. Straub,
The use of equitable tolling in cases of potential temporal conflict between civil § 1983 and related criminal proceedings is consistent with, indeed, it would further, § 1983’s basic pur
The Court is wrong in concluding that the principle I have described would “place” the tolling “question” in “jurisprudential limbo.” Ante, at 395. Under the approach I propose, supra, at 401, a potential §1983 plaintiff knows his claim is being tolled so long as the issues that claim would raise are being pursued in state court. Such a rule is prophylactic (it will sometimes toll claims that would not be barred by Heck), but under sueh an approach neither the plaintiff, nor the defendant, nor the federal court need speculate as to whether the claims are in any way barred until the state court has had the opportunity to consider the claims in the criminal context.
A tolling principle certainly seems to me to create greater order than the rule the majority sets out, whereby all criminal defendants must file their § 1983 suits immediately, some will be stayed, some dismissed, and then some may be refiled and entitled to tolling, ante, at 395, n. 4. The majority acknowledges that tolling may be necessary to protect the plaintiff who previously filed and was dismissed. Ibid. Why not simply apply that tolling principle across the board?
The majority is also wrong when it suggests that the proposed equitable tolling rule would create a significant problem of lack of notice. Ante, at 396-397. Because the rule would toll only while the potential § 1983 plaintiff is challenging the alleged misconduct in a state court, the State itself would have notice of the plaintiff’s claims. For similar reasons, the potential individual § 1983 defendants, the state officers, would also likely have notice of the charge. But even if they do not, I believe that many would prefer to forgo
The Court’s suggested limitations system, like an equitable tolling rule, will produce some instances in which a plaintiff will file a § 1983 lawsuit at an initially uncertain future date. Ante, at 395, n. 4. And, under both approaches, in the many §1983 suits that do not involve any Heck bar, a defendant can and will file immediately and his suit would proceed (for there is no tolling unless the potential § 1983 plaintiff is asserting in a conviction challenge that a constitutional violation did impugn his conviction). My problem with the Court’s approach lies in its insistence that all potential plaintiffs (including those whose suits may be Heck barred) file immediately — even though their suits cannot then proceed. With tolling, only rarely would a plaintiff choose to file a potentially Heck-barred § 1983 suit while his criminal case is pending; and in those cases the district court could, if it wished, stay the action, or simply dismiss the suit without prejudice, secure in the knowledge that the suit could be timely filed at a later date.
The Court’s refusal to admit the equitable tolling possibility means that large numbers of defendants will be sued immediately by all potential §1983 plaintiffs with arguable Heck issues, no matter how meritless the claims; these suits may be endlessly stayed or dismissed and then, at some point in the future, some defendants will also be sued again. With equitable tolling, however, defendants will be sued once, in suits with constitutional claims that a state court has not already found meritless, at a time when the suit can be promptly litigated. Given the practical difficulties of the Court’s approach, I would not rule out now, in advance, the use of an equitable tolling rule along the lines I have described.