On June 26, 2017, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the Securities Act of 1933’s three-year statute of repose to dismiss a tardy lawsuit filed by a party opting out of a class action. WLF’s amicus brief in the case argued that the § 13 repose deadline protects both the vast majority of members of the plaintiff class and defendants in securities fraud class-action cases from strategic holdouts. It explains that investors can easily preserve their ability to file individual claims by becoming non-lead named plaintiffs in a class action prior to the running of the time limit. The Court held that it could not “equitably” toll a statute of repose, and it cited WLF’s brief by name for the idea that class members have ways to protect their right to litigate on an individual basis that are not onerous. This result not only protects the statute of repose for securities law cases, but it also sets a valuable precedent that should apply to statutes of repose that exist in many other federal laws.
CalPERS v. ANZ Securities, Inc.
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