California Public Employees’ Retirement System v. ANZ Securities, Inc.

Case Updates

The U.S. Supreme Court held that American Pipe’s tolling rule does not apply to the three-year statute of repose for claims brought under Section 11 of the Securities Act of 1933, because statutes of repose, as opposed to statutes of limitations, are not subject to equitable tolling. The ruling provides defendants a complete defense against securities actions brought outside the repose period and gives them greater certainty about the extent of their potential liability.

The U.S. Chamber filed an amicus brief urging the Supreme Court to hold that statutes of repose confer substantive rights, which are not subject to judge-made tolling.

The Chamber’s brief explains that statutes of repose reflect a legislative decision that defendants, at a certain and readily ascertained point, are entitled to peace and need no longer worry about defending actions taken long ago. Allowing class-action tolling of statutes of repose would override Congress’s and the states’ legislative judgments, violating the separation of powers and depriving defendants of the certainty that statutes of repose are meant to provide. The brief also details how plaintiffs’ lawyers have abused the American Pipe rule to stretch out the repose period far beyond what Congress or the state legislature selected.

William M. Jay, Stephen D. Poss, David R. Fox, Brian E. Pastuszenski, and Daniel E. Roeser of Goodwin Procter LLP served as co-counsel to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce on behalf of the U.S. Chamber Litigation Center.