Opinion
Civil Action H-22-3823
01-30-2023
TIMOTHY M. WILLIAMS and CAMERON M. WILLIAMS, Plaintiffs, v. BERTHA LEE THOMAS, GLORIA SANCHEZ GLOUCE, and VERONICA TORREZ-HURST, Defendants.
ORDER
Lee H. Rosenthal United States District Judge
Timothy and Cameron Williams filed a lawsuit alleging that the defendants conspired to steal money in the course of a domestic relations case in Harris County. (Docket Entry No. 1 at 5). Bertha Lee Thomas is Timothy Williams's former spouse; Gloria Sanchez Glouce is an attorney in the Houston office of the Texas Attorney General; and Veronica Torrez-Hurst is a statecourt judge. After Judge Torrez-Hurst moved to dismiss based on judicial immunity, (Docket Entry No. 3), the plaintiffs voluntarily dismissed her from this suit. (Docket Entry No. 8).
References to the plaintiffs' complaint are to the CM/ECF pagination in the document header.
The court dismisses the remaining defendants on its own initiative because it is clear from the complaint that the statute of limitations has run. 28 U.S.C. § 1915(e)(2)(B)(2) (a court “shall dismiss at any time” an in forma pauperis action that fails to state a claim). “[W]here state law provides multiple statutes of limitations for personal injury actions, courts considering § 1983 claims should borrow the general or residual statute for personal injury actions.” Beckwith v. City of Houston, 790 Fed.Appx. 568, 573 (5th Cir. 2019) (quoting Owens v. Okure, 488 U.S. 235, 249-50 (1989)). The limitations period for this § 1983 claim is two years from the date the cause of action arose. TEX. CIV. PRAC. & REM. CODE § 16.003(a). The claims the plaintiffs assert arose at the September 17, 2017 hearing, when the state court made the ruling that allegedly violated the plaintiffs' rights and caused them injury. (Docket Entry No. 1 at 11 ¶ 15).
The court dismisses the complaint, with prejudice, because amendment would be futile. Final judgment will be separately entered. All pending motions are denied as moot.