Case Name: MERCATO ELISIO, L.L.C., Plaintiff-Appellant v. John J. DEVENEY, III, improperly named John Deveney; Deveney Communication Consulting, L.L.C.; Chris Costello, individually and as employee of Deveney Communication Consulting, L.L.C., Defendants-Appellees
Court: United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit
Jurisdiction: United States
Decision Date: 2017-12-13
Citations: 706 F. App'x 192
Docket Number: No. 17-30202
Parties: MERCATO ELISIO, L.L.C., Plaintiff-Appellant v. John J. DEVENEY, III, improperly named John Deveney; Deveney Communication Consulting, L.L.C.; Chris Costello, individually and as employee of Deveney Communication Consulting, L.L.C., Defendants-Appellees
Judges: Before HIGGINBOTHAM, JONES, and GRAVES, Circuit Judges.
Reporter: West's Federal Appendix
Volume: 706
Pages: 192–192

Head Matter:
MERCATO ELISIO, L.L.C., Plaintiff-Appellant v. John J. DEVENEY, III, improperly named John Deveney; Deveney Communication Consulting, L.L.C.; Chris Costello, individually and as employee of Deveney Communication Consulting, L.L.C., Defendants-Appellees
No. 17-30202
United States Court of Appeals, Fifth Circuit.
Filed December 13, 2017
Marie Roach Yeates, Esq., Zach Howe, Vinson & Elkins, L.L.P., Houston, TX, Stephen Michael Gele, Randall Alan Smith, Smith & Fawer, L.L.C., New Orleans, LA, for Plaintiff-Appellant
Paul J. Verlander, Attorney, Daniel Redmann, Duplass, Zwain, Bourgeois, Pfister & Weinstock, Metairie, LA, for Defendants-Appellees
Before HIGGINBOTHAM, JONES, and GRAVES, Circuit Judges.

Opinion:
PER CURIAM:
The court has carefully considered this appeal in light of the briefs, oral argument and pertinent portions of the record. Having done so, we conclude that the claims appellant asserts against these appellees accrued, under either federal or state law, as early as August 2012 or April 2013, triggering the commencement of the one-year Louisiana prescription period. Piotrowski v. City of Houston, 51 F.3d 512, 516 (5th Cir. 1995); Elzy v. Roberson, 868 F.2d 793, 794 (5th Cir. 1989); Zeigler v. Hous. Auth. Of New Orleans, 118 So.3d 442, 452 (La. App. 4 Cir. 2013). Appellant's suit, filed on February 20, 2015, is well outside this period. Further, there was no basis for equitable tolling of prescription because appellees' actions did not amount to the level of active concealment necessary to implicate the jurisprudential exception, contra non valentem. F.D.I.C. v. Barton, 96 F.3d 128, 135 (5th Cir. 1996) (to suspend the running of the prescriptive period there must be evidence of "fraud, deceit, misrepresentation or concealment by the defendants that led to the plaintiffs failure to file the claim within the statutory period"). These conclusions were well stated in the district court's opinion, with which we essentially agree. JUDGMENT AFFIRMED.'
Pursuant to 5th Cm. R. 47.5, the court has determined that this opinion should not be published and is not precedent except under the limited circumstances set forth in 5th Cir. R. 47.5.4.