154 N.C. App. 426, 432, 573 S.E.2d 517, 521 (2002). Plaintiffs alleged that the Board, the local governing body for the school system, has unconstitutionally paid some claims while asserting immunity on others in violation of plaintiffs’ equal protection and due process rights. Plaintiffs showed through discovery that claims had been paid by the Board, including partial payment to plaintiffs. The Board may not assert a defense of sovereign immunity against plaintiffs’ constitutional § 1983 claims. We note that plaintiffs may not be entitled to monetary relief pursuant to section 1983 against defendant on grounds other than sovereign immunity. Id. (citing Messick v. Catawba County, 110 N.C. App. 707, 713-14, 431 S.E.2d 489, 493, disc. rev. denied, 334 N.C. 621, 435 S.E.2d 336 (1993) (<HOLDING>)). As this appeal is limited to issues of
holding that a police department is not a person within the meaning of section 1983 holding states are not persons for the purposes of section 1983 holding that an ohio municipal court could not be sued under  1983 because it was not a person as  1983 uses that term holding that because a county is not a person for purposes of a section 1983 claim it cannot be sued where the remedy sought is monetary damages holding that a state is not a person within the meaning of  1983