Summary
This Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals opinion addresses whether South Carolina’s two-year statute of limitations under the Tort Claims Act or its three-year general personal injury statute applies to a plaintiff’s Title IX claim against a public school district. The court holds that Title IX claims borrow the statute of limitations from a state’s general personal injury cause of action, rather than applying a case-by-case factual analysis or the government-specific Tort Claims Act period. Consequently, the court vacates the district court’s dismissal of the complaint as untimely and remands the case for further proceedings.
Topics
Practice areas
Questions Presented
- Which category of South Carolina statute of limitations should courts borrow for a Title IX claim when Title IX contains no limitations period?
- When South Carolina provides multiple potentially applicable personal-injury limitations periods, should a Title IX claim borrow the South Carolina Tort Claims Act's government-entity period, a sexual-abuse period, or the general personal-injury period?
- Whether E.R.'s Title IX claim was timely under South Carolina's three-year general personal-injury limitations period.
Holdings
- Title IX claims in the Fourth Circuit borrow the statute of limitations applicable to the state's general personal-injury cause of action, rather than a limitations period selected through a case-by-case factual analogy.
- When multiple South Carolina statutes of limitations concern personal-injury claims, a Title IX claim borrows the general or residual statute of limitations for personal-injury actions, not a government-entity-specific or sexual-abuse-specific limitations period.
- E.R.'s Title IX claim was timely under South Carolina's three-year general personal-injury statute of limitations.
Key quotations
“We agree with our sister circuits and hold that Title IX claims in this circuit borrow the statute of limitations from a state’s personal injury cause of action.” (slip op. at 8)
“Instead, in order to promote the “federal interests in uniformity, certainty, and the minimization of unnecessary litigation,” Wilson, 471 U.S. at 275, we conclude that courts considering Title IX claims should borrow the statute of limitations applicable to general personal injury claims.” (slip op. at 10)
Factual background
E.R. alleged that, while she was a high school student in Beaufort County's public schools, three male students sexually assaulted her four times outside school. She reported the assaults to school officials and alleged that the District failed to respond appropriately. She also alleged that other students subjected her to bullying, harassment, and sexual harassment at school and that school officials failed to respond adequately to those reports.
Procedural history
E.R. sued the Beaufort County School District in South Carolina state court, asserting Title IX, negligence, and gross-negligence claims based on the District's alleged failure to respond appropriately to sexual abuse, bullying, and harassment. The District removed the case to federal court and moved to dismiss, arguing that the South Carolina Tort Claims Act's two-year limitations period applied. The district court dismissed the state-law claims and the Title IX claim as untimely; the Fourth Circuit vacated the dismissal of the Title IX claim and remanded.
Remand instructions
Vacate the district court's order dismissing E.R.'s complaint as untimely and remand for further proceedings consistent with the opinion.