Plaintiffs assert that in this instance the only relevant question as to equitable tolling is “whether the circumstances preventing the plaintiffs from gaining equal access to the justice system over the past decades are sufficiently extraordinary to justify application of the equitable tolling doctrine.”
Plaintiffs base this assertion on the fact that they were only recently able to obtain the necessary information to assert their claims, as a result of the “uniquely catastrophic historical context from which their class is still seeking to advance and from which the defendants are still profiting.”
It is true that because of the institution of slavery, the Jim Crow laws, and the lingering bigotries and separatist views following the Civil War, African-Americans were obstructed from obtaining necessary information on their claims and in some instances access to the legal system. Nevertheless, Plaintiffs’ ancestors knew of their injury at the time that it occurred. They knew, or should have known, that they were wrongfully being forced to work without compensation, and that somebody was making a profit from their labor.
Yet, neither Plaintiffs nor their ancestors ever asserted these claims in a court of law until now. Plaintiffs have not shown that they acted with all due diligence in attempting to obtain vital information about their claims, and assert them timely. See Marbury, 5 U.S. at 163 (“The very essence of civil liberty certainly consists in the right of every individual to claim the protection of the laws, whenever he receives
an injury”).
Plaintiffs’ contentions fly in the face of numerous well-settled legal principles and history. African-Americans, as well as various other ethnic groups, have previously brought claims seeking reparations in one form or another, against both public and private entities. See Johnson, 45 App. D.C. at 440; see also Deutsch, 317 F.3d at 1028-29 (affirming dismissal of slave labor claims against private corporations as, inter alia, time-barred), amended by 324 F.3d 692; Wolf, 95 F.3d at 544 (dismissing claims against private defendant on standing grounds); Kelberine, 363 F.2d at 992 (dismissing on justiciability and statute of limitations grounds reparations claims for World War II era slave labor against a private company); In re Nazi Era Cases Against German Defendants Litig., 129 F. Supp. 2d at 389 (dismissing slave and forced labor claims as nonjusticiable); Iwanowa, 67 F. Supp. 2d at 424; Burger-Fischer, 65 F. Supp. 2dat 248.
Plaintiffs merely make vague assertions and generalizations as to their claims and the state of the legal system. Plaintiffs’ vague assertions and generalizations are not enough to toll the statutes of limitations on their claims. Plaintiffs’ Complaint is nothing more than an attempt to by-pass the various statutes of limitations by chronicling the social inequities and injustices that have befallen African-Americans as a result of slavery.
The statutes of limitations, however, “are not to be disregarded by courts out of a vague sympathy for particular litigants.” Morgan, 122 S. Ct. at 2071. The doctrine of equitable tolling therefore does not apply in this instance.