L.S. v. Henderson

Background

The defendants moved to dismiss the plaintiffs’ state-law claims and their substantive due process claim. The plaintiffs had been prepared to file an amended complaint in January 2021, within the applicable limitations period, but agreed with the defendants and the court to delay filing until the court decided the defendants’ motion for a protective order concerning keeping their names under seal.

Court’s Analysis

The court applied equitable tolling, meaning it paused the limitations period because fairness justified doing so. It held that the period from the original amended-complaint deadline, January 22, 2021, through the court’s ruling on the protective-order motion, March 24, 2021, should not count against the plaintiffs. The court noted that the plaintiffs had acted diligently and in good faith, that the short delay would not prejudice the defendants’ ability to defend the state-law claims, and that penalizing the plaintiffs for agreeing to accommodate the defendants’ effort to keep their names sealed would be grossly unfair.

The plaintiffs conceded that they were pursuing only a Fourth Amendment claim as to the first cause of action. Because of that concession, the defendants’ motion to dismiss the substantive due process claim no longer presented a live issue.

Disposition

The court denied the motion to dismiss the state-law claims. It dismissed as moot the defendants’ motion to dismiss the substantive due process claim. The order did not decide the merits of the Fourth Amendment claim or otherwise identify the specific state-law claims at issue. Judge Vince Chhabria signed the order.