L. B. Boshell v. Alabama Mental Health Board

Boshell brought an action under the Civil Rights Act of 1871, 42 U.S.C. § 1983, claiming that he was discharged from his position as an aid at the Bryce Hospital, an institution operated by the Alabama Mental Health Board, for constitutionally impermissible reasons. He asserted that his discharge arose from the exercise of his First Amendment rights in actively seeking passage of certain legislation which was opposed by the hospital administration.

The trial court determined that the action was barred by the one year statute of limitations, Ala.Code, Title 7, § 26 (1958), which provides in…