Union Pacific Railroad Company v. Todd DeGeer

In American Pipe & Construction Co. v. Utah, 414 U.S. 538, 554 (1974), this Court held that “the commencement of a class action suspends the applicable statute of limitations as to all asserted members of the class who would have been parties had the suit been permitted to continue as a class action.” This case involves a certified class action where the class was narrowed and then decertified. The Eighth Circuit held, consistent with the Fifth and Ninth Circuits, but in conflict with the Fourth and Tenth Circuits, that in this situation American Pipe tolling should be extended beyond “members of the class” to include persons who were not “members of the class” so long as they were not “unambiguously exclude[d]” from the class. App. 2a. The question presented is: Is American Pipe tolling limited to actual members of the putative or certified class, or does it extend to non-class members so long as they were not “unambiguously excluded” from the class?