United States Supreme Court Issues Ruling on Tolling of State Law Employment Discrimination Claims After Federal Claims Dismissed

Many times, federal district courts will dismiss a federal employment discrimination claim and decline to exercise supplemental jurisdiction over the plaintiff’s state law claims. The state law claims are typically included with the federal claims pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1367(a), which allows pendent state law claims if they are “part of the same case or controversy” as the federal claims. If the federal claims are dismissed, the district court may dismiss all related state claims if there is no independent federal jurisdiction for those claims. See 28 U.S.C. § 1367(c)(3). In that situation, section 1367(d) provides that the “period of limitations for” refiling in state court a state claim so dismissed “shall be tolled while the claim is pending [in federal court] and for a period of 30 days after it is dismissed unless State law provides for a longer tolling period.” 28 U.S.C. § 1367(d).

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Julie Bruch has written several items for The Illinois Association of Defense Trial Counsel Quarterly (IDC Quarterly). The excerpt above is from the original publication. Follow the link above to read the entire article.