Unreported / Non-Citable
Background
Gilbert Lau, proceeding pro se, sued his former employer, Thrifty Liquor No. 10, L.L.C., along with co-owner Roland P. Toups II and manager Elizabeth Patterson. He asserted claims under the Americans with Disabilities Act and Louisiana Employment Discrimination Law, as well as respondeat superior and prima facie tort claims, and later added an oral breach-of-contract claim against Thrifty and Toups.
After some claims were dismissed and discovery proceeded on the remaining claims, the district court granted summary judgment to the defendants on December 5, 2025. Lau filed his first notice of appeal on January 8, 2026—34 days after entry of judgment—and relied on several motions for reconsideration as potentially tolling the 30-day deadline.
The Court’s Holding
The Fifth Circuit held that Lau’s notice of appeal was untimely under Federal Rule of Appellate Procedure 4(a)(1)(A), depriving the court of appellate jurisdiction. His December 5 and December 23 reconsideration motions did not toll the deadline because, despite references to Rule 59(e), their substance challenged a nonfinal discovery order rather than the final judgment and did not qualify as other tolling motions.
Lau’s January 6 reconsideration motion did challenge the final judgment and substantively qualified as a Rule 59(e) motion, but it was filed 32 days after judgment, beyond Rule 59(e)’s nonextendable 28-day limit. Although the motion was postmarked within that period, the Western District of Louisiana’s procedures deemed a pro se paper filing filed when received by the clerk, not when mailed. The court therefore dismissed the appeal for lack of jurisdiction.
Key Takeaways
- A civil notice of appeal generally must be filed within 30 days after entry of the judgment or order being appealed.
- A motion’s substance, rather than its caption, determines whether it qualifies as a tolling motion under Federal Rule of Appellate Procedure 4(a)(4)(A).
- A Rule 59(e) motion must be filed within 28 days after judgment, and a pro se paper filing in the Western District of Louisiana is filed when the clerk receives it.
Why It Matters
The decision underscores that appellate filing deadlines are jurisdictional and strictly enforced, including against pro se litigants. A mislabeled or misdirected reconsideration motion will not preserve appellate rights, and mailing a motion before the deadline may be insufficient when local procedures treat receipt as the filing date.