Section 13 of the Securities Act (15 USC 77m) sets two time limits on suits for misrepresentations in initial securities offerings under Section 11 of the Securities Act. The first requires suit to be filed within one year after discovery of the untrue statement; the second states that in no event shall suit be brought more than three years after the stock was bona fide offered to the public. This decision holds that the second time limit constitutes a statute of repose. American Pipe tolling arises from equitable considerations and cannot override the unconditional language and purpose of the 3-year statute of repose. Whether a particular limitations tolling doctrine applies to a specific statute of limitations is a matter of statutory intent. The unqualified nature of the 3-year statute of repose here shows that Congress did not intend to allow courts to extend the statutory period based on equitable considerations.
United States Supreme Court (Kennedy, J.; Ginsburg, Breyer, Sotomayor, & Kagan, JJ., dissenting); June 26, 2017; 2017 WL 2722415