Graugnard v. Capital Area Transit System

137 So. 3d 26, 2012 La.App. 1 Cir. 2025, 2013 WL 6732109, 2013 La. App. LEXIS 2860
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedDecember 20, 2013
DocketNo. 2012 CW 2025
StatusPublished

This text of 137 So. 3d 26 (Graugnard v. Capital Area Transit System) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Louisiana Court of Appeal primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Graugnard v. Capital Area Transit System, 137 So. 3d 26, 2012 La.App. 1 Cir. 2025, 2013 WL 6732109, 2013 La. App. LEXIS 2860 (La. Ct. App. 2013).

Opinion

KUHN, J.

li>We granted certiorari in response to the writ application filed by Capital Area Transit System (CATS), challenging the overruling peremptory exceptions raising objections of prescription, peremption, no cause of action and no right of action based [28]*28on the trial court’s conclusion that the sixty-day limitation period for contesting the legality of a tax authorized by an election 1 held on April 21, 2012, is inapplicable to the claims of unconstitutionality asserted by plaintiffs, Gregory Milton Graugnard and William L. Smith, Jr. Because we hold that the sixty-day period provided in La. R.S. 18:1294 applies to plaintiffs’ claims, we grant the writ, reverse the denial of the peremptory exceptions, sustain the exceptions, and dismiss the lawsuit with prejudice.2

BACKGROUND

CATS is authorized to impose a tax on any subject of taxation within the territorial area of East Baton Rouge Parish or any local governmental subdivision or subdivisions located wholly within any of the municipalities located wholly within the boundaries of East Baton Rouge Parish for any transit-related purpose whatsoever, provided that the proposed tax is approved by a majority of voters voting on the proposition within the affected local governmental subdivisions at an election held in accordance with the Louisiana Election Code. Accordingly, CATS is authorized to call a tax election parish wide or within the limits of any municipality that is wholly located within the boundaries of East Baton Rouge Parish.

On April 21, 2012, CATS exercised its statutory authority and held special elections in the cities of Baton Rouge, Baker, and Zachary to levy an ad valorem tax (the Tax) within those cities. At that time, it is undisputed that CATS provided 1P,transit services within these three cities as well as in the unincorporated areas of East Baton Rouge Parish. However, because CATS did not call a parish-wide election, the registered voters that reside within the unincorporated areas of East Baton Rouge Parish were unable to participate in the April 21, 2012 election.

The purpose of the Tax was to improve the availability and quality of public transportation within the named cities. Proposed improvements included decreases in wait times, more efficient routes, and better signage and shelters. The Tax was also to provide funds for the operations and maintenance of transit services in East Baton Rouge Parish and for capital improvements and acquisitions, including the acquisition of immovable property. The cities of Baton Rouge and Baker passed the Tax.

Graugnard and Smith filed this suit challenging the validity of the Tax on equal protection grounds under both the federal and state constitutions.3 According to the allegations of their petition, Graugnard lives within the municipal boundaries of Baton Rouge. Smith, who lives in the unincorporated area of East Baton Rouge Parish, owns taxable property within the city of Baton Rouge. The gist of plaintiffs’ assertions is that individuals who reside outside of the cities of Baton Rouge and Baker, but own property inside those cities, were denied the right to vote in the Tax elections. Additionally, they maintain that individuals who pay the ad valorem taxes on property owned inside those cities suffer an equal protection violation because the proceeds of the Tax will be spent [29]*29outside of the municipal limits for the benefit of individuals and businesses that do not have to pay the Tax. They aver their claim’s’ also set forth a cause of action under the 28 U.S.C. § 1988, which provides an enforcement action for federal constitutional and | ^statutory rights. Plaintiffs request a declaration that the Tax is invalid as a violation of their federal and state constitutional equal protection rights.4

CATS filed several exceptions, including peremptory exceptions urging objections of prescription, peremption, no cause of action and no right of action. CATS claimed that because the parties stipulated that plaintiffs had not filed their suit within sixty days, CATS was entitled to a dismissal of the suit under La. R.S. 18:1294.5

On October 29, 2012, the trial court sustained certain portions of the exceptions that effectively dismissed plaintiffs’ Baker Tax claims. Thus, only plaintiffs’ Baton Rouge Tax claims remained viable.6 The trial court determined plaintiffs’ claims were outside the scope of La. R.S. 18:1294, finding that Louisiana constitutional and statutory law does not “fix” a prescriptive or peremptive period for federal constitutional claims asserted in a Louisiana state court. Judgment overruling the peremptory exceptions was signed on November 13, 2012. CATS applied for a supervisory writ.

DISCUSSION

Louisiana law provides the limitation period for plaintiffs’ federal constitutional claims and § 1983 action

The trial court concluded that Louisiana constitutional and statutory laws do not “fix” a prescriptive or peremptive period for federal constitutional claims asserted in state court. We disagree.

42 USC § 1983 provides a civil remedy for the deprivation of federally created rights, but it does not provide a limitation period for asserting the action.7 [30]*30When Congress has not established a time-limitation period for a federal cause of action, the settled practice is to adopt the appropriate state limitation period as federal law if the state law is not inconsistent with federal law or policy. See Owens v. Okure, 488 U.S. 235, 239, 109 S.Ct. 573, 576, 102 L.Ed.2d 594 (1989); Wilson v. Garcia, 471 U.S. 261, 271-79, 105 S.Ct. 1938, 1943-48, 85 L.Ed.2d 254 (1985); see also 42 U.S.C. § 1988(a).8 Accordingly, to the extent it is not inconsistent with federal law or policy, Louisiana law provides the limitation period for plaintiffs’ federal constitutional claims.

The U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Wilson provides the correct starting point for analyzing what Louisiana limitation period applies to plaintiffs’ § 1983 |fiequal protection claims. In practice, § 1983 tends to encompass numerous and diverse topics. Prior to Wilson, the U.S. Supreme Court instructed federal courts to select the forum state’s statute of limitations that was “most analogous” and “most appropriate” to the particular action, so long as the chosen limitations period was consistent with federal law and policy. See Owens, 488 U.S. at 239, 109 S.Ct. at 576. But there were inherent problems with this approach, since the particular facts of each claim could almost always be analogized to fit within one or more legal theories with different limitation periods arising within the state. See Wilson, 471 U.S. at 272-75, 105 S.Ct. at 1944-46.

In Wilson, the U.S. Supreme Court set about the task of establishing a single rule for determining the appropriate limitation period for a § 1983 remedy based on a broad characterization of all § 1983 claims.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Dows v. City of Chicago
78 U.S. 108 (Supreme Court, 1871)
Cipriano v. City of Houma
395 U.S. 701 (Supreme Court, 1969)
Rosewell v. LaSalle National Bank
450 U.S. 503 (Supreme Court, 1981)
Burnett v. Grattan
468 U.S. 42 (Supreme Court, 1984)
Wilson v. Garcia
471 U.S. 261 (Supreme Court, 1985)
Felder v. Casey
487 U.S. 131 (Supreme Court, 1988)
Owens v. Okure
488 U.S. 235 (Supreme Court, 1989)
General Motors Corp. v. City of Linden
671 A.2d 560 (Supreme Court of New Jersey, 1996)
Allied Chemical v. Iberville Parish Police
426 So. 2d 1336 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 1983)
Andrieux v. East Baton Rouge Parish School Board
227 So. 2d 370 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 1969)
Naquin v. LAFAYETTE CITY-PARISH GOVERNMENT
950 So. 2d 657 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 2007)
Redmon v. Sub-Sewerage District No. 1
75 So. 2d 854 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 1954)
McLavy v. American Legion Housing Corp.
79 So. 2d 316 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 1955)
Rankin v. East Baton Rouge Parish School Board
233 So. 2d 573 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1970)
Audubon Insurance Co. v. Parish of East Baton Rouge
366 So. 2d 972 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1978)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
137 So. 3d 26, 2012 La.App. 1 Cir. 2025, 2013 WL 6732109, 2013 La. App. LEXIS 2860, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/graugnard-v-capital-area-transit-system-lactapp-2013.