Supreme Court Clarifies That the American Pipe Tolling Doctrine Does Not Permit Limitless, Successive Class Action Suits
By: James E. Anklam, Andrew B. Cashmore, Israel David, Samuel P. Groner, Michael C. Keats, Scott B. Luftglass, Joshua D. Roth, Peter L. Simmons James D. Wareham
Earlier this week, the Supreme Court resolved a circuit split regarding whether the filing of a class action lawsuit tolls the statute of limitations for putative class members to file their own class actions. In China Agritech, Inc. v. Resh, 584 U.S. ___, 2018 WL 2767565 (June 11, 2018), the Court held that so-called American Pipe tolling—which allows a putative class member to file an individual claim upon denial of class certification, even if the statute of limitations would have by that time otherwise run out—does not permit the maintenance of a follow-on class action past the expiration of the statute of limitations.
