3rd Circuit Holds that Discovery Rule Does Not Apply to FDCPA’s One-Year Statute of Limitations, But Doctrine of Equitable Tolling Might Apply

Stephen J. Shapiro, co-chair of the firm’s Litigation Services Department, wrote “The Third Circuit Holds that the Discovery Rule Does Not Apply to the FDCPA’s One-Year Statute of Limitations, But that the Doctrine of Equitable Tolling Might Apply.” This article was published on SchnaderFSB, the Financial Services Blog of Schnader Harrison Segal & Lewis LLP.

“In a precedential decision diverging from holdings in the Fourth and Ninth Circuits, the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, sitting en banc, held that the one-year statute of limitations in the FDCPA runs from the date the alleged violation occurs, not from the date a claimant discovers the violation. The Court noted, though, that the FDCPA’s statute of limitations may be equitably tolled under the proper circumstances.

In Rotkiske v. Klemm, a collection agency filed a lawsuit against a debtor in 2009 to collect an unpaid credit card debt. When the debtor did not respond to the lawsuit, the collection agency obtained a default judgment against him.”

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