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Class Action Blog

As society becomes increasingly litigious, and as plaintiff attorneys market their services more aggressively, class action litigation is posing a rapidly growing threat to businesses in all sectors.

Class Action Blog
August 22, 2019

Blake v. JP Morgan: Third Circuit Explains and Applies American Pipe, Crown Cork, and China Agritech

Tolling issues, particularly the equitable tolling of statutes of limitations, are issues frequently encountered by the courts. Equitable tolling in class action cases was recognized by the Supreme Court of the United States in American Pipe & Constr. Co. v. Utah, 414 US 538 (1974). In that case, the court recognized equitable tolling of the statute of limitations to allow members of the failed class action case to “timely intervene as individual plaintiffs in the still pending action.” That holding was extended 9 years later in Crown, Cork & Seal Co. v. Parker 462 US 345 (1983). In Crown Cork, the American Pipe tolling rule was applied to allow putative class members to file their own individual suits rather than intervene, after the court denied the class certification motion. More recently, the Supreme Court denied equitable tolling for persons trying to pursue “a class action anew beyond the time allowed by the applicable statute of limitations” rather than intervening in the “existing suit or promptly filing an individual action,” in China Agritech, Inc. v. Resh, 138 S.Ct. 1800, 201 L.Ed.2d 123 (2018).