Equity and fairness can trump even an emphatic statute of limitations, the Supreme Court held on April 22, 2015, applying the principle to the time limits imposed by the Federal Tort Claims Act. United States v. Wong, No. 13-1074.

The FTCA waives sovereign immunity for harm caused by the negligence of federal employees. However, the claimant must file an administrative claim with the agency involved within two years after the cause of action accrues. Additionally, the claimant must file suit within 6 months after the agency’s denial. Claims that do not comply “shall be forever barred.” The Court’s decision involves both time limits.

In Wong, plaintiff sought damages arising out her detention by the Immigration and Naturalization Service. However, she was not able to timely file suit because the district court did not grant her motion to add the FTCA claim to her existing complaint until after the six-month deadline had passed.

In United States v. June, No. 13-1075, plaintiff’s decedent was killed in an auto accident in 2005 when a driver lost control of her vehicle on an interstate and crossed through the cable median barrier into oncoming traffic. Plaintiff sued the United States in 2009, after discovering that the Federal Highway Administration had falsely reported that the cable median barrier had passed mandatory federal crashworthiness tests.

In both cases, the Ninth Circuit held that the FTCA time limits may be equitably tolled where plaintiff was diligent in pursuing her claim but was prevented from complying by circumstances beyond her control, particularly where the government played a role in creating those circumstances. The Supreme Court granted certiorari to resolve a circuit split on the question.

An AAJ amicus brief, prepared by CCL Senior Counsel Jeffrey R. White, urged the Court to affirm. Neither the text of the FTCA nor the purpose of the statute suggest that Congress intended to preclude the tolling of the time limits where equity requires. In addition, equitable tolling permits courts in cases like Wong and June to avoid depriving of injured claimants of their statutory causes of action in violation of due process and right of access to the courts. 

The Court upheld the Ninth Circuit by a 5-4 margin. Justice Elena Kagan, writing for the Court, rejected the government’s primary argument – that the time requirements were “jurisdictional” and not subject to equitable tolling. Although courts in earlier times used the term “jurisdictional” more loosely, Justice Kagan adhered to the Court’s more recent position that a time bar may be deemed jurisdictional only where Congress has provided a clear statement to that effect. Congress did not intend to exempt the federal government from the general rules that allow equitable tolling. Rather, the FTCA makes the United States liable “in the same manner and to the same extent as a private individual under like circumstances.”