In Public Employees’ Retirement System of Mississippi v. IndyMac MBS Inc., No. 13-640, the U.S. Supreme Court will consider whether the filing of a putative class action serves, under the “American Pipe” rule, to satisfy the three-year time limitation in § 13 of the Securities Act of 1933 with respect to class claims.

An amicus curiae brief written by CCL’s Andre M. Mura and Kathryn S. Minton, and filed on behalf of the American Association for Justice (AAJ) in this case, argues that disallowing American Pipe tolling in the securities context would contravene Congress’s intent and cause uncertainty and confusion in future class action litigation that the Court sought to avoid in American Pipe. In American Pipe & Construction Co. v. Utah, 414 U.S. 538 (1974), the Court held that commencement of a class action filed pursuant to a federal statute suspended the applicable statute of limitations as to all asserted members of the class who would have been parties had the suit been certified. The Court found that tolling was appropriate because it was consonant with the policies animating Rule 23, the applicable limitations statute, and the federal legislative scheme. The decision sought to protect federal procedural interests by preventing duplicative litigation from purported class members during the pendency of class certification.

The CCL brief retraces the analytical path the Court followed in American Pipe to show that the Court need only apply that same logic and reasoning to find American Pipe tolling available here. It argues not allowing tolling would result in a multiplicity of needless protective filings, frustrating the aims of Rule 23 and the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 (PSLRA). The brief argues that Congress, therefore, would not have wanted to bar tolling, especially when the outcome would not advance any purpose underlying the Act’s three-year limitation period.

Lastly, the brief cautions against focusing on labelling tolling “legal” or “equitable” and encourages the Court to follow its longstanding approach to determining if tolling is available: by evaluating whether tolling is in accordance with the legislative scheme.