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Equitable Tolling Applied to FTCA Claim: Fifth Circuit
Practical Law Legal Update w-001-4348 (Approx. 3 pages)
Equitable Tolling Applied to FTCA Claim: Fifth Circuit
by Practical Law Litigation
| Law stated as of 10 Feb 2016 • USA (National/Federal) |
In Trinity Marine Products, Inc. v. United States, the US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit held that the district court erred by failing to equitably toll the statute of limitations in a Federal Tort Claims Act case.
On February 8, 2016, in Trinity Marine Products, Inc. v. United States, the US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit held that the district court erred by failing to equitably toll the statute of limitations in a Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA) case (No.14-31130 (5th Cir. 2016)).
In 1999, appellant Trinity Marine Products, Inc. (“Trinity”) was indicted for allegedly storing hazardous waste without a permit. The government dismissed this charge in 2003. In 2011, Trinity learned that a government investigation revealed that two of the federal agents involved in its prosecution had used the case as a means to engage in an extramarital affair. Trinity filed a complaint in federal court in 2013 under the FTCA, alleging malicious prosecution.
The district court dismissed Trinity's FTCA claim for lack of subject matter jurisdiction, concluding that the FTCA's statute of limitations is jurisdictional, had run, and could not be equitably tolled. The district court further held that even if the statute of limitations could be tolled, Trinity had not met its burden of establishing that equitable tolling was appropriate. Trinity timely appealed.
After the district court issued its ruling, the Supreme Court held in United States v. Kwai Fun Wong that the FTCA's time bars are non-jurisdictional and subject to equitable tolling (135 S. Ct. 1625, 1638 (2015)). The Fifth Circuit then turned to the question of whether the federal agents' concealment of their extramarital affair should equitably toll the statute of limitations.
The Fifth Circuit explained that the statute of limitations may be tolled if the plaintiff can prove that:
- The defendants concealed the conduct complained of.
- The plaintiff, despite its exercise of due diligence, failed to discover the facts that form the basis of its claim.
The Fifth Circuit reversed the district court and held that Trinity had satisfied both elements of the equitable tolling test. The federal agents plainly concealed their affair, and no amount of due diligence on the plaintiff's part would have revealed the agents' deceptions before the results of the government's investigation were released in 2011.