John H. Stevens v. Tennessee Valley Authority

ENGEL, Circuit Judge.

The specific issue we address in this appeal is whether any private right of action under the Veteran’s Preference Act, as made applicable to United States employees in 5 U.S.C. § 3551, 1 is subject to temporal limitations upon when suit can be brought. The trial judge, relying primarily upon Er win v. Neal, 494 F.2d 1351 (6th Cir.1974), held the action to be time-barred by what he perceived to be Tennessee’s most nearly analogous state statute of limitations, Tenn. Code Ann. § 28-3-104(a). That statute provides a one-year limitation upon actions “for injuries to the…