Supreme Court Kicks American Pipe Tolling Case: What Does It Mean?
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On Monday, September 29, 2014, the Supreme Court issued a terse order dismissing as “improvidently granted” its grant last March of certiorari in Public Employees’ Retirement System v. IndyMac MBS, 134 S. Ct. 1515 (2014), due to the pending proposed settlement of the vast majority of the case. The case presented the Court with an opportunity to resolve a split between the Second and Tenth Circuit Courts of Appeals regarding the application to a statute of repose of American Pipe & Construction Co. v. Utah, 414 U.S. 538 (1974), which held that statutes of limitation are tolled for absent class members upon the filing of a putative class action. The IndyMac case involves section 13 of the Securities Act of 1933 (Securities Act), which applies a three-year statute of repose to actions under sections 11 and 12 of that statute (regarding misleading statements in connection with the issuance of a security). The case had been scheduled for oral argument one week later, on the term’s opening day.
What’s At Stake?
On the surface, a rather narrow issue is involved: whether the statue of repose in section 13 of the Securities Act is tolled as to absent class members upon the filing of a putative class action. However, by logical extension, the question presented would apply to any cause of action for which a legislature has adopted a statute of repose (e.g., products liability claims in some states).
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