TRW Inc. v. Adelaide Andrews (534 U.S. 19)
U.S. Supreme Court · decided November 13, 2001 · Supreme Court Database (Spaeth)
- Citation
- 534 U.S. 19 · 122 S. Ct. 441
- Decided
- November 13, 2001
- Term
- October Term 2001
- Vote
- 9–0
- Majority author
- Justice Ginsburg
- Issue area
- Economic Activity
- Disposition
- Reversed and remanded
- Outcome
- Petitioning party won
- Ideological direction
- Conservative
Opinion excerpt
Justice Ginsburg delivered the opinion of the Court. This case concerns the running of the two-year statute of limitations governing suits based on the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA or Act), as added, 84 Stat. 1127, and amended, 15 U. S. C. § 1681 et seq. (1994 ed. and Supp. V). The time prescription appears in §1681p, which sets out a general rule and an exception. Generally, an action to enforce any liability created by the Act may be brought “within two years from the date on which the liability arises.” The exception covers willful misrepresentation of “any information required under [the Act] to be disclosed to [the plaintiff]”: When such a representation is material to a claim under the Act, suit may be brought “within two years after [the plaintiff’s] discovery ... of the misrepresentation.” Section 1681p’s exception is not involved in this case; the complaint does not allege misrepresentation of information that the FCRA “required] ... to be disclosed to [the plaintiff].” Plaintiff-respondent Adelaide Andrews nevertheless contends, and the Ninth Circuit held, that §1681p’s generally applicable two-year limitation commenced to run on Andrews’ claims only upon her discovery of defendant-petitioner TRW Inc.’s alleged violations of the Act. We hold that a discovery rule does not govern §1681p. That section explicitly delineates the exceptional case in which discovery…
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