Top Dollar Pawn, Gun and Car Audio 5 L L C v. Caddo Parish, 5:12-cv-00577

Plaintiff Top Dollar Pawn, Gun & Car Audio #5, LLC sued under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 alleging unconstitutional seizures of pawned property and violations of the Louisiana Pawnshop Act (La. R.S. 37:1781 et seq.).
Defendants included City Attorney Terri Scott, Shreveport Police Chief Willie Shaw, Sheriff Steve Prator, and the City of Shreveport; individual-capacity claims were previously dismissed.
Defendants produced Exhibit 218, a list of all alleged seizures; nearly all seizures occurred between 2005–2010, with only two transactions after that period (a purchased item and a seizure by a non-party agency).
Top Dollar filed suit in March 2012; defendants moved for summary judgment arguing the § 1983 claims are time-barred under Louisiana’s one-year prescription for torts.
Top Dollar argued a continuing-violation theory and a joint-tortfeasor tolling argument, and later obtained a consent order (Dec. 20, 2012) restraining return of seized items pending judicial determination, but the court found these did not save the older claims.
The Court granted defendants’ summary judgment motions, dismissed all § 1983 claims with prejudice as prescribed, and denied Top Dollar’s motion for partial summary judgment on liability.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Whether Top Dollar's § 1983 claims are time-barred	Continuing-violation theory: defendants’ policy produced ongoing seizures, so suit is timely	Louisiana’s one-year prescription applies; Exhibit 218 shows last seizures by these defendants occurred in 2010	Claims are prescribed; summary judgment for defendants granted
Whether a later SPD seizure (Oct. 1, 2012) or consent order revives earlier claims	The Oct. 2012 seizure and consent order show continuing violations and interrupt prescription	The Oct. 2012 incident involved SPD (and/or a non-party) and occurred after the limitations period; it cannot revive earlier discrete acts	Later incident does not revive time-barred claims; continuing-violation standard not met
Whether joint-tortfeasor doctrine tolled prescription	Filing against SPD (or related acts) interrupted prescription as to all joint tortfeasors	No allegation that SPD and CPSD seized the same items; Article 2324 inapplicable to these facts	Joint-tortfeasor tolling does not apply
Whether Top Dollar must invoke procedures in La. R.S. 37:1805 to preserve due-process claims	Top Dollar contends it need not affirmatively elect to dispute ownership to preserve constitutional rights	Defendants argue Top Dollar failed to initiate civil/criminal proceedings or otherwise dispute ownership as required by §1805(C)(1)	Court agrees with defendants’ interpretation; additional basis for summary judgment (though prescription was dispositive)

Celotex Corp. v. Catrett, 477 U.S. 317 (establishes summary judgment burden-shifting framework)
Scott v. Harris, 550 U.S. 372 (court must view facts in light most favorable to nonmovant, limited by record video evidence principle)
Cruz v. Louisiana ex rel. Dep’t of Pub. Safety & Corr., 528 F.3d 375 (state-law limitations govern § 1983 actions in forum state)
Watts v. Graves, 720 F.2d 1416 (establishes Louisiana one-year prescriptive period for § 1983 claims against state officials)
Perez v. Laredo Junior College, 706 F.2d 731 (continuing-violation framework in discrimination context)
McGregor v. Louisiana State Univ. Bd. of Sup’rs, 3 F.3d 850 (last act must fall within filing period to preserve earlier acts under continuing-violation theory)
Kemp v. G.D. Searle & Co., 103 F.3d 405 (statutory interpretation is a question of law)