PRACTITIONER BLOG

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SCOTUS Rules on Class Action Tolling in China Agritech, Inc. v. Resh
Class Action Tolling, Class Actions Teddy Basham-Witherington Class Action Tolling, Class Actions Teddy Basham-Witherington

SCOTUS Rules on Class Action Tolling in China Agritech, Inc. v. Resh

The Court’s decision, in our opinion, is a grave departure from the goals of efficiency and economy inherent to class actions. Requiring plaintiffs to preemptively file multiple actions unnecessarily burdens the judiciary and clogs the system with duplicative cases. The Court’s decision also is at odds with what we regard as the reality of modern class actions in that many do not have a final decision on class certification within two or four years, for reasons outside the named plaintiff’s control. Necessary discovery, taxed courts, appeals, and recalcitrant defendants all slow the process and often prevent the parties from obtaining a final ruling on class certification within the first few years. In addition, orders denying class certification may identify remediable issues that can be addressed only by filing a new action. This week’s ruling prohibits plaintiffs who initially timely filed their case from filing those new actions if the court’s class certification order arrives outside the original statute of limitations. 

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