Supreme Court Limits American Pipe's Impact On Putative Class Claims

The United States Supreme Court clarified in China Agritech, Inc. v. Resh, 584 U.S. ___ (2018), that the tolling rule announced in American Pipe & Construction Co. v. Utah, 414 U.S. 538 (1974) (holding that the filing of a class action tolls the statute of limitations for claims of putative class members), does not apply to class claims following the denial of class certification; rather, the statute is tolled only for individual claims. Under the rule as clarified, once class certification is denied in a class action, only putative class members who intervene or pursue individual claims in a new action may rely on the prior tolling of the statute; absent class members who do not intervene or file separate actions may not.