Class Actions: Supreme Court Limits Tolling For Successive Class Actions

This month, the Supreme Court resolved an emerging circuit split on the availability of tolling for successive class action claims. The split concerned differing interpretations of the Court's decision in American Pipe & Constr. Co. v. Utah, 414 U.S. 538 (1974), which holds that the statute of limitations may be tolled for putative class members during the pendency of a class action. Under American Pipe and subsequent cases, in the event that a class is not certified, putative class members may either (a) join the ongoing action individually, or (b) file new individual actions, notwithstanding the expiration of the limitations period.

In China Agritech, Inc. v. Resh, 584 U.S. ___ (2018), the Court clarified that the American Pipe tolling rule only extends to putative class members who file individual claims after a court declines to certify a class. Tolling under American Pipe does not apply to putative class members who file a new class action complaint beyond