# Fowler v. Valencourt

> Supreme Court of North Carolina · July 30, 1993 · 334 N.C. 345

URL: https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/9568710

## Case

- **Full name:** Carolyn B. Fowler v. J. M. Valencourt and City of Salisbury, North Carolina
- **Court:** Supreme Court of North Carolina
- **Decided:** July 30, 1993
- **Citations:** 334 N.C. 345; 435 S.E.2d 530; 1993 N.C. LEXIS 662
- **Precedential status:** Published
- **Opinion:** Dissent by Mitchell
- **Judges:** Parker, Meyer, Mitchell
- **Cited by:** 82 later opinions in the Frix Law Library

## Citator (automated)

- No negative treatment found by the automated citator. That is not the same as a confirmation that the case is good law; read the citing cases.
- Full citator and citing cases: https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/9568710

## Opinion text

Justice Mitchell
dissenting.
Giving the words used by the General Assembly in N.C.G.S. § 1-54(3), their plain, ordinary and universally accepted meanings, the one-year limitation period provided by that statute narrowly and specifically applies to actions for assault and false imprisonment, including those in which the defendant is a police officer. We have expressly so construed the statute for thirty-five years. Mobley v. Broome, 248 N.C. 54 , 102 S.E.2d 407 (1958). Accord Evans v. Chipps, 56 N.C. App. 232 , 287 S.E.2d 426 (1982); Jones v. City of Greensboro, 51 N.C. App. 571 , 277 S.E.2d 562 (1981). The parties in this case were entitled to rely upon the statute as authoritatively construed by this Court. Believing as I do in the doctrine of stare decisis, I must respectfully dissent from the decision and holding of the majority that the one-year statute of limitation, N.C.G.S. § 1-54(3), is not available to the defendants in this case.

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Source: Frix Law Library, https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/9568710. Public record. Not legal advice.