HOLT V. COUNTY OF ORANGE, No. 22-55806 (9th Cir. 2024)
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In this case decided by the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, the court considered whether the claims filed by Adriana Holt, her children, and her mother Beatriz Lukens against Orange County and several deputy sheriffs were barred by the applicable statutes of limitations. The plaintiffs alleged unlawful search and arrest and brought claims under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 and California state law. The case involved multiple filings and dismissals in different courts, raising the question of whether the tolling provision of the supplemental jurisdiction statute, 28 U.S.C. § 1367, applied to their claims.
The court held that the plaintiffs' claims were not tolled and were therefore properly dismissed as untimely. The court reasoned that § 1367 tolls the applicable statute of limitations for a federal-law claim that is contained in the same federal court complaint as a supplemental state-law claim and that is “voluntarily dismissed at the same time as or after the dismissal of the [supplemental] claim.” However, this tolling provision does not apply when the supplemental claim is voluntarily dismissed, as occurred in Holt's first suit, or when a supplemental claim is dismissed for improper joinder, as occurred in the separate class action.
Finally, the court also held that the plaintiffs' state-law claims were not tolled by a Covid-19 pandemic emergency tolling order and rule because the limitations periods for those claims had already lapsed before either the order or rule went into effect. Therefore, the court affirmed the lower court's dismissal of the plaintiffs' claims as time-barred.
Court Description: Statute of Limitations/Supplemental Jurisdiction. Statute Affirming the district court’s dismissal of plaintiffs’ 42 U.S.C. § 1983 claims as barred by the applicable statute of limitations, the panel held that the claims were not subject to the tolling provision of the supplemental jurisdiction statute, 28 U.S.C. § 1367.
Adriana Holt and her children initially sued Orange County and several deputy sheriffs in federal district court (Holt I), alleging claims under section 1983 and California state law based on an allegedly unlawful search and arrest. When Holt I was filed, the statute of limitations had not run on any of the claims. Holt and her children and mother, Beatriz Lukens, were subsequently included as individual plaintiffs in a separate putative class action (Moon), which raised similar allegations. Holt and her children then voluntarily dismissed Holt I. After the district court dismissed the family’s claims from Moon for improper joinder, they filed the present action (Holt II). The district court dismissed their claims as time-barred, finding that the limitations period was not tolled during the pendency of Holt I and Moon.
The panel concluded that plaintiffs’ claims were not tolled and therefore were properly dismissed as untimely. Section 1367 tolls the applicable statute of limitations for a federal-law claim that is contained in the same federal court complaint as a supplemental state-law claim and that is “voluntarily dismissed at the same time as or after the dismissal of the [supplemental] claim.” 28 U.S.C. § 1367(d). But tolling is not available when the supplemental claim is voluntarily dismissed, as happened in Holt I. Therefore, the statute of limitations for Holt’s section 1983 claims was not tolled during the time those claims were pending in Holt I and the claims were untimely when she filed Holt II. Holt’s supplemental state-law claims were also untimely.
The panel next determined that tolling is not available when a supplemental claim is dismissed for improper joinder, as happened in Moon. Therefore, Lukens’ state-law claims were not tolled during the time they were pending in Moon.
Finally, the panel held that plaintiffs’ state-law claims were not tolled by a Covid-19 pandemic emergency tolling order and rule because the limitations periods for those claims lapsed before either the order or rule went into effect.
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