Gordon Rees Scully Mansukhani Partners Mark Posard, Robyn Leonard, and Senior Counsel Annette Rose recently won summary judgment from the United States District Court, Northern District of California. The plaintiffs had belatedly sued their former employer for race discrimination under 42 U.S.C. section 1981, alleging a series of discriminatory acts over several years.
The Gordon & Rees team argued that the employer was entitled to judgment both because the statute of limitations barred the plaintiffs’ claims and because one of the plaintiffs had previously asserted the same primary right in two prior state court actions (both of which the firm successfully defended). In opposing the motion, the plaintiffs asserted that the continuing violation doctrine saved their claims from being time-barred.
The court agreed with the Gordon & Rees team that neither plaintiff had identified any violation within the statutory period and that discriminatory acts alleged by one of the plaintiffs consisted of discrete and complete acts that are not amenable to the continuing violation doctrine.