Supreme Court Cuts Off Later-Filed Class Suits (2)

Business interests notched a win June 11 as the U.S. Supreme Court used a securities fraud suit to bar subsequent class actions after the deadline for filing the initial action has passed.

Supreme Court precedent “does not permit a plaintiff who waits out the statute of limitations to piggyback on an earlier, timely filed class action,” Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg wrote for the unanimous court.

Ginsburg often sides with plaintiffs in class cases. But the former civil procedure professor tends to disfavor procedural gamesmanship.

The decision will reverberate in all types of class actions, not just securities cases.

For example, ...