Coomer v. Roth, 23-10845

Tracey Harris Coomer, a Texas state prisoner, claimed prison officials confiscated his property in retaliation for his filing multiple grievances about prison conditions and access to the law library.
The alleged retaliatory act occurred in or before February 2016; Coomer filed his relevant grievance (Step 1) on March 2, 2016, and his Step 2 grievance was denied on May 19, 2016.
Over two years later, on June 22, 2018, Coomer filed suit under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 against various prison officials alleging unlawful retaliation.
The district court dismissed his claims as time-barred under the two-year statute of limitations and alternatively as frivolous; that dismissal was initially vacated in part and remanded by the Fifth Circuit for factual development on timeliness.
On remand, summary judgment was granted for defendants on the basis that the claims were untimely, and Coomer appealed again.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
When did the limitations period begin	Limitations should run from date he received grievance denial notice	Runs from date Step 2 grievance was denied, not received	Began when Step 2 grievance denied
Timeliness of Coomer's §1983 claim	Filing was within two-year window if timed from actual notice	Filing was outside two-year limit regardless	Claim time-barred
Proper accrual date for retaliation	Accrual should be after notice, June 30, 2016	Accrual occurred on or before May 19, 2016	Accrual on or before May 19, 2016
Preservation of new arguments on appeal	Additional accrual arguments raised in reply brief	Arguments not preserved by raising only in reply brief	Arguments forfeited

Smith v. Reg’l Transit Auth., 827 F.3d 412 (5th Cir. 2016) (state personal-injury limitations period applies to § 1983 claims)
Piotrowski v. City of Houston, 51 F.3d 512 (5th Cir. 1995) (limitations period begins when plaintiff is aware of the injury)
Walker v. Epps, 550 F.3d 407 (5th Cir. 2008) (accrual of § 1983 claim governed by federal law, but tolling is governed by state law)