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Second Circuit Review: Class-Action Litigation and Tolling
August 23, 2007 Full PDF
Litigation partners Marty Flumenbaum and Brad Karp's "Second Circuit Review" column appeared in the August 23 New York Law Journal. The article reports on the recent WorldCom decision in which the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit held that the filing of a class action tolls the statute of limitations for all putative class members, including those who file individual actions before a decision on class certification. In the court's view, the purpose of the tolling rule is "to protect class members from being forced to file individual suits in order to preserve their claims, not meant to induce class members to forgo their right to sue individually." The court's decision in WorldCom deepens the split of authority on whether the tolling doctrine applies in such circumstances and may pave the way for the Supreme Court ultimately to resolve the issue. Litigation associate Stephen Yuhan assisted in the preparation of this column.