A Society Without a Name v. Commonwealth of Virginia, 655 F.3d 342 (2011)

Citation: A Society Without a Name v. Commonwealth of Virginia, 655 F.3d 342 (2011)
Parent Document: A Society Without a Name v. Commonwealth of Virginia, 655 F.3d 342 (2011)
Jurisdiction: United States (federal)
Effective Date: 2011-08-24
Original Source: https://www.courtlistener.com/opinion/612506/a-society-without-a-name-v-commo... ↗

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The majority opinion correctly observes that ASWAN’S FHA, equal protection and § 1983 claims are subject to a two-year limitations period, and its ADA claims are subject to a one-year statute of limitations. 42 U.S.C. § 3613(a) (FHA); Al-Amin v. Shear, 325 Fed.Appx. 190, 193 (4th Cir. 2009) (unpublished) (equal protection and § 1983 claims); Wolsky v. Med. Coll. of Hampton Roads, 1 F.3d 222, 223 (4th Cir. 1993) (ADA). When considering whether a continuing violation is alleged, however, “The Supreme Court has ‘stressed the need to identify with care the specific [discriminatory] practice that is at issue.’” Garcia v. Brockway, 526 F.3d 456, 462 (9th Cir.2008) (en banc) (quoting Ledbetter v. Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co., 550 U.S. 618, 624, 127 S.Ct. 2162, 167 L.Ed.2d 982 (2007)); see also Havens Realty Corp. v. Coleman, 455 U.S. 363, 380, 102 S.Ct. 1114, 71 L.Ed.2d 214 (1982) (focusing on “the continuing nature of the alleged violation”); Nat’l Adver. Co. v. City of Raleigh, 947 F.2d 1158,1168 (4th Cir.1991) (examining the “nature of the wrongful conduct and harm alleged”) (quotation marks omitted). Here, ASWAN alleges at length in its ninety-five-page Second Amended Complaint that the defendants have engaged, since at least the early 1990s, in a series of calculated and discriminatory acts designed to isolate homeless persons from Richmond’s downtown, mainstream community.2 ASWAN alleges that the defen*355dants have only recently achieved this discriminatory isolation, essentially by two means: first, by the siting and construction of the Conrad Center in an allegedly remote location; and second, by the piecemeal relocation of services for homeless persons from the downtown community to the Conrad Center. See, e.g., Familystyle of St. Paul, Inc. v. City of St. Paul, Minn., 923 F.2d 91, 93-94 (8th Cir.1991) (upholding city ordinance tending to integrate and refusing to “agree that Congress intended the Fair Housing Amendment Act of 1988 to contribute to the segregation of the mentally ill from the mainstream of our society”); see also Human Res. Research & Mgmt. Grp., Inc. v. Cnty. of Suffolk, 687 F.Supp.2d 237, 253-54 (E.D.N.Y.2010) (citing Bryant Woods Inn, Inc. v. Howard Cnty., Md., 911 F.Supp. 918, 946 (D.Md. 1996)).

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