What is american pipe tolling?

American Pipe tolling is a doctrine, from the Supreme Court's American Pipe & Construction Co. v. Utah (1974), holding that the statute of limitations pauses for individual claims of putative class members once a class action is filed, until the court rules on certification. If certification is later denied, class members may still have time to sue individually because the limitations clock stopped while certification was pending.

The doctrine generally covers individual claims but does not extend the time to file a new, separate class action of one's own — the Supreme Court held in China Agritech, Inc. v. Resh (2018) that a person cannot rely on American Pipe tolling to file a follow-on class action after an earlier class case failed. This distinction matters most to attorneys evaluating whether a new individual or class filing is still timely after an earlier related case did not succeed at certification.

Last reviewed 2026-08-22.