La.’s statute of limitations on police brutality challenged in civil rights cases

By Wesley Muller
Contributing Writer

(lailluminator.com) — Civil rights attorneys want the U.S. Supreme Court to slow Louisiana’s use of a quick clock on bringing police brutality cases to court – a statute of limitations that’s out of step with federal law.

The Institute of Justice, a Virginia-based public interest law firm, has attached briefs to two Louisiana lawsuits that are in federal court – Brown v. Pouncy and Monroe v. Conner – that both involve incidents of police brutality against plaintiffs accused of non-violent offenses.

In both cases, the plaintiffs, who the Louisiana chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union represents, brought suit against law enforcement agencies within two years of the incidents, which the Institute of Justice said is a typical statute of limitations period.

However, both cases were dismissed at the district court level, and an appeals court upheld both dismissals because Louisiana, at that time, was one of just four jurisdictions with a statute of limitations of one year for bringing such Civil Rights Act claims to court. In June, Louisiana lawmakers extended that timeframe to two years.

The Institute of Justice argues that such short limitations harm victims of police brutality and prevent justice for a broad variety of legal claims.

“Louisiana’s use of incredibly short statutes of limitations in cases …goes against the statute’s purpose of creating a meaningful way to remedy violations of individuals’ constitutional rights by abusive government officials,” Institute of Justice senior attorney Anya Bidwell said in a news release. “Without a reasonable statute of limitations that allows victims to properly prepare for a lawsuit by, for example, fleshing out their legal claims, the remedies … are rendered useless.”

Brown v. Pouncy stems from a Sept. 27, 2019, incident in which deputies with the DeSoto Parish Sheriff’s Office attacked Jarius Brown without provocation while he was in their custody for traffic offenses. The attack left Brown hospitalized with a fractured nose and eye socket and abrasions to his face, according to the Institute for Justice.

The U.S. Justice Department filed criminal charges against the two deputies involved, one of whom, Demarkes Grant, has pleaded guilty, according to the ACLU. Brown filed his lawsuit two years after the event.

Monroe v. Conner deals with a Nov. 29, 2019, traffic stop in Bossier Parish. Three Louisiana State Police troopers allegedly beat Anthony Monroe, who suffered a heart attack and other life-threatening injuries, according to the Institute of Justice brief. Monroe filed his lawsuit one year and 11 months after the incident.

While the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the lower court’s dismissal in both cases, it did so because it felt only the U.S. Supreme Court could address the issue, according to the institute’s brief. Appellate Judge James Ho, a federal court appointee of former President Donald Trump, noted that precedent on this issue makes little sense.

“You would think the last thing Congress would want is 50 different limitations rules,” Ho said during oral arguments, according to the news release.

The judge encouraged Brown to seek a review of his case from the Supreme Court, the Institute of Justice said.

This article originally published in the August 12, 2024 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.