PUBLISHED

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT

No. 22-1629

MARGARET CHAMBERS,

Plaintiff - Appellant,

v.

NORTH CAROLINA DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE; TIMOTHY RODGERS, in his individual and official capacity; ROBIN PENDERGRAFT, in her individual and official capacity,

Defendants - Appellees.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Western District of North Carolina, at Charlotte. Max O. Cogburn, Jr., District Judge. (3:22-cv-00037-MOC-DCK)

Argued: March 8, 2023 Decided: April 17, 2023

Before WYNN, HARRIS, and HEYTENS, Circuit Judges.

Affirmed in part, vacated in part, and remanded by published opinion. Judge Wynn wrote the opinion, in which Judge Harris and Judge Heytens joined.

ARGUED: Bert Joseph Miano, MIANO LAW PC, Matthews, North Carolina, for Appellant. Tamika Lynn Henderson, Special Deputy Attorney General, NORTH CAROLINA DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE, Raleigh, North Carolina, for Appellee. ON BRIEF: Joshua H. Stein, Attorney General, NORTH CAROLINA DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE, Raleigh, North Carolina, for Appellee. USCA4 Appeal: 22-1629 Doc: 27 Filed: 04/17/2023 Pg: 2 of 9

WYNN, Circuit Judge:

Margaret Chambers brought this wrongful-termination action against her former

employer—the North Carolina Department of Justice—and two former supervisors,

Timothy Rodgers and Robin Pendergraft, in their official and individual capacities. The

district court dismissed some claims as barred by sovereign immunity and dismissed the

entirety of the complaint as time barred. Because we conclude that the district court failed

to apply the correct statute of limitations, we vacate in part and remand for further

proceedings.

I.

Chambers, an African American woman, began working as an investigator with the

Medicaid Investigations Division at the North Carolina Department of Justice in April

2007. In her complaint, she alleges that after participating in an investigation into alleged

misconduct by Rodgers, she was subjected to racially discriminatory and disparate

treatment by Rodgers and Pendergraft.

Chambers’s employment was terminated on November 21, 2017, and, just shy of

four years later, she filed this action on November 19, 2021, alleging wrongful termination

under 42 U.S.C. § 1981 pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983. 1 In response, Defendants moved to

dismiss, arguing that the claims were untimely, that certain Defendants enjoyed sovereign

immunity, and that Chambers failed to state a claim upon which she was entitled to relief.

1 Chambers brought additional claims, but she does not appeal the dismissal of those claims.

2 USCA4 Appeal: 22-1629 Doc: 27 Filed: 04/17/2023 Pg: 3 of 9

The district court granted the Defendants’ motion to dismiss, finding that some

claims were barred by sovereign immunity and that, “[i]n any event,” all of her claims were

subject to the three-year statute of limitations found in N.C. Gen. Stat. § 1-52(16).

Chambers v. N.C. Dep’t of Just., 3:22-cv-37-MOC-DCK, 2022 WL 1445231, at *2–3

(W.D.N.C. May 6, 2022). The court also found that the North Carolina Department of

Justice was not an appropriate defendant for a § 1983 action. Id. at *3 n.2 (citing Am. Mfrs.

Mut. Ins. Co. v. Sullivan, 526 U.S. 40, 49–50 (1999)). I

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