Opinion ID: 491631
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: tolling pending final administrative disposition

Text: 38 We now turn to the tolling aspect of appellant's argument, which if accepted would save his right to sue for the FBI Headquarters' withholding of documents that were responsive to the September 21 request. That theory, supported by amicus, see Brief for Amicus Curiae Public Citizen at 1-9, is that the statute of limitations was tolled until August 15, 1979, the date on which the OPIA affirmed FBI Headquarters' partial denial--even though the cause of action first accrued nearly two years earlier. 39 In order for appellant's tolling theory to salvage his suit, the statute of limitations would have to be tolled at the very least for the 20-month period between accrual (October 1977) and FBI Headquarters' partial denial of his request (June 14, 1979). Although appellant would also have us toll the statute of limitations between the FBI Headquarters' partial denial and the OPIA's final disposition of his appeal (August 15, 1979), that two-month tolling could not independently salvage his lawsuit. 40 In addressing this argument, then, we need not resolve the question we left open in our discussion of Dettmann: whether an agency's initial response (denying documents) that arrives after the 10-day deadline, but before the requester has filed suit, suspends or cuts off the right to sue. Nor need we decide the related question: whether, if so, the statute of limitations would toll for the brief period during which such an appeal would be mandatory. In no case could such period exceed the 30-day period during which a requester may file an administrative appeal to the OPIA, 28 C.F.R. Sec. 16.8(a) (1986), plus the 20-working-day period allotted for OPIA processing of the appeal. On the facts of this case, it could not exceed six weeks: the two weeks that it took appellant to file his appeal with the OPIA (on June 29, 1979) plus the 20-working-day period allotted for OPIA processing. Tolling for so brief a period would not be enough here. 41 For their position that the statute of limitations is tolled from the date it accrues until final administrative disposition, amicus and appellant collectively advance three central arguments, each of which we reject. 42 First, appellant cites dicta in cases from other circuits for the proposition that pursuit of any administrative remedy tolls Sec. 2401(a). See Geyen v. Marsh, 775 F.2d 1303, 1307-08 (5th Cir.1985); Nichols v. Hughes, 721 F.2d 657, 660 (9th Cir.1983); Mosley v. Secretary of the Navy, 522 F.Supp. 1165, 1167 & n. 5 (E.D.Pa.1981), aff'd without published opinion, 688 F.2d 823 (3d Cir.1982). All three cases involved the timeliness of a cause of action challenging the plaintiff's discharge from the armed forces. The first two of those cases explicitly stated, see Geyen, 775 F.2d at 1306, or assumed for the sake of argument, see Nichols, 721 F.2d at 660, that the administrative appeals in question were ones whose availability or pendency would bar suit. They therefore say nothing about administrative consideration that obviously does not bar suit (except possibly for the brief period described above). The third case merely assumed for the sake of argument that the statute of limitations should be tolled for the two-year period in which the plaintiff pursued an administrative appeal that was (according to the court) permissive, 522 F.Supp. at 1167, but the assumption was dictum as the tolling did not in any event overcome the bar of the statute. Id. 43 Second, both appellant and amicus rely on Burnett v. New York Central Railroad Co., 380 U.S. 424, 427-29, 85 S.Ct. 1050, 1054-55, 13 L.Ed.2d 941 (1965), for the proposition that limitations periods must be applied or tolled in light of the purpose of the statute that forms the basis of the underlying cause of action. See also Order of Railroad Telegraphers v. Railway Express Agency, Inc., 321 U.S. 342, 348-49, 64 S.Ct. 582, 586, 88 L.Ed. 788 (1944); Mt. Hood Stages, Inc. v. Greyhound Corp., 616 F.2d 394, 396-406 (9th Cir.), cert. denied, 449 U.S. 831, 100 S.Ct. 99, 66 L.Ed.2d 36 (1980). Thus, they argue, FOIA's purpose to encourage administrative resolution of requests requires us to toll Sec. 2401(a) pending a requester's pursuit of such administrative resolution. Appellant advanced precisely the same policy concern in endeavoring to persuade us that Sec. 2401(a) was inapplicable to FOIA suits. Again we are not convinced, and for the same reasons. First, Sec. 2401(a) is more than an ordinary statute of limitations; it is a condition on the waiver of sovereign immunity, and we are obliged to construe such waivers strictly. Second, as we have already observed, we doubt that faithful application of a six-year statute of limitations from the date of first accrual will cause the flood of litigation that appellant and amicus predict. 44 Finally, it is conceivable, as amicus argues and as the District Court recognized, 643 F.Supp. at 704, that our reading of Sec. 2401(a) would bar the lawsuit of an unwitting requester who was duped by an agency into waiting for a response six years from the date of accrual. That is, of course, not what happened here. Nor is there any evidence that it usually or often happens. At any rate, that danger, which exists in any case where permissive remedies are available, is insufficient to overcome the clear language of a statute of limitations that conditions a waiver of sovereign immunity. 45 Since appellant's cause of action with regard to the September 21 request accrued in October 1977, over 7 1/2 years before he filed suit, and the statute of limitations was not tolled (if at all) for anywhere near 1 1/2 years, we hold that this cause of action is time barred. 10 46