On March 10, 2014, in a case of first impression for the court, the US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit in Taylor v. Bailey Tool & Manufacturing Company held that a claim barred by the statute of limitations when filed in state court cannot be revived by FRCP 15(c) once the case is removed to federal court (No. 13-10715 (5th Cir. Mar. 10, 2014)).

In March 2011, Plaintiff Reinaldo Taylor sued his former employer, Bailey Tool & Manufacturing Company (Bailey), in Texas state court alleging racial discrimination and retaliation. In December 2012, Taylor filed an amended complaint adding federal law claims. Bailey removed the case to the US District Court for the Northern District of Texas based on the federal law claims and moved to dismiss, arguing that Taylor's claims were time-barred. The district court granted Bailey's motion to dismiss, concluding that the Texas relation-back rules applied to Taylor's amended petition filed in state court and that removal of the claim to federal court did not resuscitate the barred claims. Taylor appealed.

On appeal, the Fifth Circuit affirmed and held that the Texas statute applied to determine whether Taylor's amended petition filed in state court related back to the date of his original petition. The Fifth Circuit joined the Sixth and Ninth Circuits to hold that the state relation back statute and not FRCP 15 governs under these circumstances. The court reasoned that the FRCP "apply to a civil action after it is removed from a state court" and therefore state procedural rules apply while the case is pending in state court before removal. The Fifth Circuit concluded that since the claim as filed in state court was barred at the time of its filing, FRCP 15(c) did not revive the case upon removal.

Practitioners should be aware that courts in the Fifth Circuit will not apply FRCP 15(c) where a claim was barred by the applicable statute of limitations when filed in state court even if the case is later removed to federal court.