New Mexico City Sees Civil Rights Suit Over Water Bill Revived

A New Mexico city must face a claim that it violated property owners’ civil rights when it cut off their water over a prior owner’s unpaid bill, after the Tenth Circuit said each time they complained about the problem a new violation occurred.

The district court ruled that the owners’ claim was untimely because it accrued in March 2017 and the owners didn’t file suit until June 2020. But the opinion here by Judge Carolyn B. McHugh said that the claim was still valid under the repeated violations doctrine, which starts a new statute of limitations for each new violation ...