Owens, et al. v. Okure

Decided January 10, 1989. Thurgood Marshall delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 87-56 · 488 U.S. 235 (1989) · Cited 1,911 times

Holding

Where state law provides multiple statutes of limitations for personal injury actions, courts considering 1983 claims should borrow the State's general or residual personal injury statute of limitations.

The Court’s statement of the holding, from the opinion’s syllabus. The syllabus is prepared by the Reporter of Decisions and is not part of the opinion of the Court — read the official opinion for authority.

How the Justices voted

Decided 9–0.

“Concurring” means agreeing with the outcome; any split shown is the Court’s judgment, not each Justice’s reasoning. Source: the Supreme Court Database (Spaeth et al.), Washington University.

Precedents cited

Supreme Court decisions this opinion relies on, ordered by how often it cites each. Cases in our collection link through; others are named.

• Wilson v. Garcia · 471 U.S. 261 (1985)
• Monroe v. Pape · 365 U.S. 167 (1961)
• Johnson v. Railway Express Agency, Inc. · 421 U.S. 454 (1975)
• Felder v. Casey · 487 U.S. 131 (1988)
• Burnett v. Grattan · 468 U.S. 42 (1984)
• Parratt v. Taylor · 451 U.S. 527 (1981)
• Briscoe v. LaHue · 460 U.S. 325 (1983)
• Board of Regents of Univ. of State of NY v. Tomanio · 446 U.S. 478 (1980)
• McNeese v. Board of Education for Community Unit School District 187 Cahokia · 373 U.S. 668 (1963)
• Hustler Magazine, Inc. v. Falwell · 485 U.S. 46 (1988)
• Occidental Life Insurance v. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission · 432 U.S. 355 (1977)

Cited by

Later Supreme Court opinions in our collection that cite this case.

• City of Monterey v. Del Monte Dunes at Monterey, Ltd. · 526 U.S. 687 (1999)
• City of Rancho Palos Verdes v. Abrams · 544 U.S. 113 (2005)
• Hardin v. Straub · 490 U.S. 536 (1989)
• Health and Hospital Corporation of Marion Cty. v. Talevski · 599 U.S. 166 (2023)

Official text

Read the official opinion (U.S. Reports, govinfo.gov)

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Source: Supreme Court of the United States, slip opinions (1989). Citation count from the Free Law Project’s CourtListener bulk data. Data last verified 2026-07-03. Informational only; verify against the primary source before relying. Not a consumer report (FCRA).