The following summary is based on an opinion of the U.S. District Court for the District of New Hampshire. Federal district court cases apply federal law and sometimes New Hampshire law. Their interpretations of New Hampshire law are not binding on the New Hampshire Supreme Court.
Following an administrative investigation into a complaint of sexual harassment, McNamara, a Nashua firefighter, was suspended without pay in August 2000, and subsequently the Nashua Board of Fire Commissioners voted to terminate his employment. While an arbitration hearing was pending, the parties reached a written settlement agreement, dated March 29, 2001, under which McNamara would resign effective February 4, 2001 and receive back pay to August 2000. The agreement also called for the City to cooperate in obtaining McNamara’s New Hampshire Retirement System (NHRS) benefits and other benefits. The agreement was signed by McNamara, his personal attorney, the union’s attorney, the chair of the Fire Commissioners and the City’s attorney. Subsequently, at the request of the union’s attorney, the agreement was amended to help McNamara obtain a medical benefits supplement from NHRS. The effective date of retirement was changed to June 20, 2001, and payments under the agreement were attributed to the three weeks preceding that date. McNamara received his first retirement check in August 2001.
Thereafter, McNamara complained that his monthly benefit was too low, and he alleged that, notwithstanding the written agreement and representation by counsel, he had been coerced into settlement and misled by the City into thinking that he would be “made whole” by receiving back pay for the entire period from the date of suspension to the date of retirement. In August 2008, McNamara filed a federal civil rights suit under 42 U.S.C. sec. 1983, claiming a violation of his Fourteenth Amendment right to due process of law and adding state law claims for breach of contract; breach of the covenant of good faith and good dealing; and fraudulent inducement.
The City filed for summary judgment on the basis that all claims were barred by the statute of limitations. The court reviewed the law for statutes of limitation in civil rights cases:
The state statute of limitations applicable to personal injury and tort actions provides the limitations period for sec. 1983 claims…. The accrual date of a sec. 1983 claim, however, “is a question of federal law that is not resolved by reference to state law.” … Under federal law, “[t]he limitations period begins to run when the plaintiff knows or has reason to know of the injury which is the basis for his claim.” [citations omitted]
The applicable statute of limitations for sec. 1983 cases in New Hampshire is RSA 508:4, a three-year period for all personal injury actions. It also applies to contract actions. The court granted the City’s motion, finding that McNamara had reason to know the facts concerning his claims during 2001.