* Pursuant to 5th CIR. R. 47.5, the Court has determined that this

opinion should not be pubished and is not precedent except under

the limited circumstances set forth in 5th CIR. R. 47.5.4. UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS

FOR THE FIFTH CIRCUIT

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No. 98-11454

Summary Calendar

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PEGGY S. HOLBROOK,

Plaintiff-Appellant,

VERSUS

LOCKHEED MARTIN TACTICAL AIRCRAFT SYSTEMS, a subsidiary of

Lockheed Martin Corp.; STEVE WIGGINS, in his various

capacities of employment for Lockheed Martin Tactical

Aircraft Systems,

Defendants-Appellees.

___________________________________________________

Appeal from the United States District Court

for the Northern District of Texas

(4:97-CV-432-Y)

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September 20, 1999

Before DAVIS, EMILIO M. GARZA, and DENNIS, Circuit Judges.

PER CURIAM * :

Hol brook appeals the district court’s grant of summary

judgment to her former employer, Lockheed Martin Tactical Aircraft

Systems, on her Title VII claim. We find no error and affirm.

On appe al, Holbrook argues that genuine issues of material

fact exist concerning wheth er she was subject to a continuing

course of discrimination that would give rise to application of thecontinuing-violation theory and save her claim from the statute of

limitations. We agree with the district court that the defendants

met their summary judgment burden by asserting all elements of a

valid affirmative statute-of-limitations defense and that Holbrook

failed to go beyond the pleadings and set forth specific facts

showing a genuine issue for trial.

While the statute of limitations on Title VII claims is three

hundred days, Holbrook failed to file her EEOC claim until August

of 1996, more than four y ears after the last alleged assault and

more than eighteen mo nths after the Lockheed Corporation

administratively terminated her employment. Holbrook, however,

claims that the continuing-violation exception to conventional

statute of limitations rules should apply to her claim. This

equitable doctrine relieves plaintiffs of t he burden of showing

that an entire violation occurred within the limitations period if

an unlawful employment practice manifests itself over time, s ee

Abrams v. Baylor College of Medicine , 805 F.2d 528, 532 (5th Cir.

1986), and some action in the illegal course of conduct occurred

within the limitations period, see Berry v. Board of Supervisors

,

715 F.2d 971, 981 (5th Cir. 1983). The district court properly

held that Holbrook failed to satisfy either of these elements.

The district court was correct to conclude that the

continuing-violation doctrine was inapplicable to this case because

the complained of conduct, a series of workplace rapes, are

“discrete instance[s] of discriminatory conduct” that should put an

employee on notice to the existence of a cause of action. H uckabay

v. Moore

, 142 F.3d 233, 239 (5th Cir. 1998). Thus, Holbrook’scla ims are antithetical the theory’s requirement of an unlawful

employment practice that mani fests itself over a period of time.

F urthermore, the district court appropriately held that Wiggin’s

seemingly innocuous phone calls, the actionable conduct Holbrook

claims occurred within th e limitations period, were not similar

enough to the alleged rapes to be part of the same co urse of

conduct required to constitute a continuing violation. See Berry

at 981 (requiring that the “alleged acts involve the same type of

discrimination.”).

Finally, because none of the evidence excluded by the district

court would, if admitted, be relevant to application of the

continuing-violation theory, appellant’s only substantive issue

raised on appeal, any possible error in the exclusion of such

evidence would be harmless.

AFFIRMED.