Motivation Knowledge Does Not Trigger Statute Of Limitations

The United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit affirmed the dismissal of claims brought for the search of an attorney's Facebook private page on statute of limitations grounds.

In January 2019, Detective Lori Russ searched Connie Reguli’s private Facebook records allegedly because Russ disliked Reguli’s criticism of the police. Reguli learned of this search a year later when preparing for her criminal trial. She did not sue over the search at that time. Much later, however, Reguli learned that her speech had motivated the search when Russ seemed to admit as much at Reguli’s sentencing in July 2022. That November, Reguli filed a First Amendment retaliation claim against Russ and her employer under 42 U.S.C. § 1983. But Reguli’s § 1983 claim triggered a short one-year statute of limitations under Tennessee law. So the district court dismissed Reguli’s claim as untimely. The court reasoned that this claim had accrued when Reguli learned of Russ’s search—not when she learned of Russ’s motivation for it. We agree and affirm.

Facts

Connie Reguli has practiced law in Tennessee for years. She started out as a local prosecutor in a district attorney’s office with a focus on domestic-violence and child-abuse cases. After switching to a private civil-rights practice, she regularly represented “families” in proceedings to remove children from their homes initiated by the Tennessee Department of Children’s Services (which goes by “DCS”). Compl., R.1, PageID 2. In this role, Reguli acquired a “distrust of government agents,” especially DCS employees. Id. She conveyed her “disdain” for the government on her public Facebook page, which developed a following of some 17,000 people. Id. But she eventually grew suspicious that government agents were monitoring her page, so she set it to “private.” Id.

In August 2018, DCS employees believed that Reguli’s zealous advocacy had crossed the line into criminal misconduct. The evidence from Reguli’s criminal trial recorded the events of that month. See State v. Reguli, 2024 WL 913212, at *1 (Tenn. Crim. App. Mar. 4, 2024). In early August, DCS began to investigate Wendy Hancock over the care she was providing her two children. Id. Reguli agreed to represent Hancock during the investigation. Id. Things escalated quickly. On August 13, DCS filed an ex parte petition to take custody of Hancock’s children. Id. A juvenile court granted this petition. See id. But DCS could not find Hancock or her 12-year-old daughter because they were staying at a hotel. See id.

The criminal charges

In July 2019, a Tennessee grand jury indicted Hancock on a count of custodial interference and Reguli on a count of facilitating Hancock’s offense and two counts of being an accessory after the fact. See Reguli, 2024 WL 913212, at *2. In January 2020, Reguli obtained discovery from the prosecutor and learned for the first time that Russ had obtained a warrant back in 2018 to search her Facebook records.

The trial court held separate trials for Hancock and Reguli. The women’s respective juries found them guilty as charged. When testifying at Reguli’s trial, Russ did not introduce or otherwise use any of Reguli’s Facebook records.

The motivation was revealed at sentencing.

On appeal, the Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals reversed Reguli’s conviction and dismissed her criminal case.

Opinion reversing conviction linked here.

Statute of limitations

Here, then, Russ’s search—not her speech—is the adverse action. So the date of the search (early 2019) dictates when Reguli had a complete and present case of action...

This precedent dooms Reguli’s First Amendment retaliation claim. Whether she needed to know about only her injury or about both her injury and its cause, she did not file her claim within the one-year statute of limitations. Her complaint alleged that she discovered her injury—the invasion of privacy from the Facebook search—“in about January 2020.” Compl., R.1, PageID 11. And her complaint alleged that she learned of this injury’s cause—“Detective Lori Russ”—at the same time. Id. This knowledge started the limitations period in January 2020, whether or not Reguli knew of the “other elements of” her claim. Rotella, 528 U.S. at 555.

There are two concurring opinions. (Mike Frisch)