United States v. Kwai Fun Wong

• Decision Date: 22 April 2015
• Docket Number: Nos. 13–1074,13–1075.,s. 13–1074
• Citation: 135 S.Ct. 1625,575 U.S. 402,191 L.Ed.2d 533
• Parties: UNITED STATES, Petitioner v. KWAI FUN WONG. United States, Petitioner v. Marlene June, Conservator.
• Court: U.S. Supreme Court

575 U.S. 402

135 S.Ct. 1625

191 L.Ed.2d 533

UNITED STATES, Petitioner

v.KWAI FUN WONG.

United States, Petitioner

v.Marlene June, Conservator.

Nos. 13–1074

13–1075.

Supreme Court of the United States

Argued Dec. 10, 2014.

Decided April 22, 2015.

Roman Martinez, Washington, D.C., for Petitioner.

Eric Schnapper, Seattle, WA, for Respondent.

Donald B. Verrilli, Jr., Solicitor General, Counsel of Record, Department of Justice, Washington, D.C., for Petitioner.

Eric Schnapper, University of Washington School of Law, Seattle, WA, Tom Steenson, Portland, OR, Beth Creighton, Michael Rose, Creighton & Rose, P.C., Portland, OR, for Respondent.

John P. Leader, Leader Law Firm, Tucson, AZ, Stanley G. Feldman, Stanley G. Feldman PLC, Tucson, AZ, E. Joshua Rosenkranz, Counsel of Record, Robert M. Loeb, Brian D. Ginsberg, David W.A. Spencer, Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP, New York, NY, for Respondent.

Donald B. Verrilli, Jr., Solicitor General, Counsel of Record, Stuart F. Delery, Assistant Attorney General, Edwin S. Kneedler, Deputy Solicitor General, Roman Martinez, Assistant to the Solicitor General, Mark B. Stern, Anne Murphy, Adam C. Jed, Attorneys, Department of Justice, Washington, D.C., for Petitioner.

Justice KAGAN delivered the opinion of the Court.

The Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA or Act) provides that a tort claim against the United States "shall be forever barred" unless it is presented to the "appropriate Federal agency within two years after such claim accrues" and then brought to federal court "within six months" after the agency acts on the claim. 28 U.S.C. § 2401(b). In each of the two cases we resolve here, the claimant missed one of those deadlines, but requested equitable tolling on the ground that she had a good reason for filing late. The Government responded that § 2401(b)'s time limits are not subject to tolling because they are jurisdictional restrictions. Today, we reject the Government's argument and conclude that courts may toll both of the FTCA's limitations periods.

I

In the first case, respondent Kwai Fun Wong asserts that the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) falsely imprisoned her for five days in 1999. As the FTCA requires, Wong first presented that claim to the INS within two years of the alleged unlawful action. See § 2401(b) ; § 2675(a). The INS denied the administrative complaint on December 3, 2001. Under the Act, that gave Wong six months, until June 3, 2002, to bring her tort claim in federal court. See § 2401(b).

Several months prior to the INS's decision, Wong had filed suit in federal district court asserting various non -FTCA claims against the Government arising out of the same alleged misconduct. Anticipating the INS's ruling, Wong moved in mid-November 2001 to amend the complaint in that suit by adding her tort claim. On April 5, 2002, a Magistrate Judge recommended granting Wong leave to amend.

But the District Court did not finally adopt that proposal until June 25—three weeks after the FTCA's 6–month deadline.

The Government moved to dismiss the tort claim on the ground that it was filed late. The District Court at first rejected the motion. It recognized that Wong had managed to add her FTCA claim only after § 2401(b)'s 6–month time period had expired. But the court equitably tolled that period for all the time between the Magistrate Judge's recommendation and its own order allowing amendment, thus bringing Wong's FTCA claim within the statutory deadline. Several years later, the Government moved for reconsideration of that ruling based on an intervening Ninth Circuit decision. This time, the District Court dismissed Wong's claim, reasoning that § 2401(b)'s 6–month time bar was jurisdictional and therefore not subject to equitable tolling. On appeal, the Ninth Circuit agreed to hear the case en banc to address an intra-circuit conflict on the issue. The en banc court held that the 6–month limit is not jurisdictional and that equitable tolling is available. Kwai Fun Wong v. Beebe, 732 F.3d 1030 (2013). It then confirmed the District Court's prior ruling that the circumstances here justify tolling because Wong "exercis [ed] due diligence" in attempting to amend her complaint before the statutory deadline. Id., at 1052.

The second case before us arises from a deadly highway accident. Andrew Booth was killed in 2005 when a car in which he was riding crossed through a cable median barrier and crashed into oncoming traffic. The following year, respondent Marlene June, acting on behalf of Booth's young son, filed a wrongful death action alleging that the State of Arizona and its contractor had negligently constructed and maintained the median barrier. Years into that state-court litigation, June contends, she discovered that the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) had approved installation of the barrier knowing it had not been properly crash tested.

Relying on that new information, June presented a tort claim to the FHWA in 2010, more than five years after the accident. The FHWA denied the claim, and June promptly filed this action in federal district court. The court dismissed the suit because June had failed to submit her claim to the FHWA within two years of the collision. The FTCA's 2–year bar, the court ruled, is jurisdictional and therefore not subject to equitable tolling; accordingly, the court did not consider June's contention that tolling was proper because the Government had concealed its failure to require crash testing. On appeal, the Ninth Circuit reversed in light of its recent decision in Wong, thus holding that § 2401(b)'s 2–year deadline, like its 6–month counterpart, is not jurisdictional and may be tolled. 550 Fed.Appx. 505 (2013).

We granted certiorari in both cases, 573 U.S. ––––, 134 S.Ct. 2873, 189 L.Ed.2d 831, 832 (2014), to resolve a circuit split about whether courts may equitably toll § 2401(b)'s two time limits. Compare, e.g., In re FEMA Trailer Formaldehyde Prods. Liability Litigation, 646 F.3d 185, 190–191 (C.A.5 2011) (per curiam ) (tolling not available), with Arteaga v. United States, 711 F.3d 828, 832–833 (C.A.7 2013) (tolling allowed).¹ We now affirm the Court of Appeals' rulings.

II

Irwin v. Department of Veterans Affairs, 498 U.S. 89, 95, 111 S.Ct. 453, 112 L.Ed.2d 435 (1990), sets out the framework for deciding "the applicability of equitable tolling in suits against the Government." In Irwin, we recognized that time bars in suits between private parties are presumptively subject to equitable tolling. See id., at 95–96, 111 S.Ct. 453. That means a court usually may pause the running of a limitations statute in private litigation when a party "has pursued his rights diligently but some extraordinary circumstance" prevents him from meeting a deadline. Lozano v. Montoya Alvarez, 572 U.S. 1, ––––, 134 S.Ct. 1224, 1231–1232, 188 L.Ed.2d 200 (2014). We held in Irwin that " the same rebuttable presumption of equitable tolling" should also apply to suits brought against the United States under a statute waiving sovereign immunity. 498 U.S., at 95–96, 111 S.Ct. 453. Our old "ad hoc," law-by-law approach to determining the availability of tolling in those suits, we reasoned, had produced inconsistency and "unpredictability" without the offsetting virtue of enhanced "fidelity to the intent of Congress." Id., at 95, 111 S.Ct. 453. Adopting the "general rule" used in private litigation, we stated, would "amount[ ] to little, if any, broadening" of a statutory waiver of immunity. Ibid. Accordingly, we thought such a presumption " likely to be a realistic assessment of legislative intent as well as a practically useful" rule of interpretation. Ibid .

A rebuttable presumption, of course, may be rebutted, so Irwin does not end the matter. When enacting a time bar for a suit against the Government (as for one against a private party), Congress may reverse the usual rule if it chooses. See id., at 96, 111 S.Ct. 453. The Government may therefore attempt to establish, through evidence relating to a particular statute of limitations, that Congress opted to forbid equitable tolling.

One way to meet that burden—and the way the Government pursues here—is to show that Congress made the time bar at issue jurisdictional.² When that is so, a litigant's failure to comply with the bar deprives a court of all authority to hear a case. Hence, a court must enforce the limitation even if the other party has waived any timeliness objection. See Gonzalez v. Thaler, 565 U.S. ––––, –––– – ––––, 132 S.Ct. 641, 648, 181 L.Ed.2d 619 (2012). And, more crucially here, a court must do so even if equitable considerations would support extending the prescribed time period. See John R. Sand & Gravel Co. v. United States, 552 U.S. 130, 133–134, 128 S.Ct. 750, 169 L.Ed.2d 591 (2008).³

Given those harsh consequences, the Government must clear a high bar to establish that a statute of limitations is jurisdictional. In recent years, we have repeatedly held that procedural rules, including time bars, cabin a court's power only if Congress has "clearly state[d]" as much. Sebelius v. Auburn Regional Medical Center, 568 U.S. ––––, ––––, 133 S.Ct. 817, 824, 184 L.Ed.2d 627 (2013) (quoting Arbaugh v. Y & H Corp., 546 U.S. 500, 515, 126 S.Ct. 1235, 163 L.Ed.2d 1097 (2006) ); see Gonzalez, 565 U.S., at –––– – ––––, 132 S.Ct., at 648–649. "[A]bsent such a clear statement, ... ‘courts should treat the restriction as nonjurisdictional.’ "

Auburn Regional, 568 U.S., at –––– – ––––, 133 S.Ct., at 824 (quoting Arbaugh, 546 U.S., at 516, 126 S.Ct. 1235 ). That does not mean "Congress must incant magic words." Auburn Regional, 568 U.S., at ––––, 133 S.Ct., at 824. But traditional tools of statutory construction must plainly show that Congress imbued a procedural bar with jurisdictional consequences.

And in applying that clear statement rule, we have made plain that most time bars are nonjurisdictional. See, e.g., id., at ––––, 133 S.Ct., at 825 (noting the rarity of jurisdictional time limits). Time...