Opinion ID: 483247
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Tolling of the RICO Statute of Limitations

Text: 140 As discussed in Parts III.C. and IV.B. above, although the district court correctly ruled that a three-year statute of limitations governs plaintiffs' claims under civil RICO, it erred in failing to rule that the running of that statute had been tolled either by reason of the pendency of the state court action or by reason of duress, or both. We conclude that both tolling grounds have applicability to the RICO claims, though not equally with respect to all defendants. 141 Within the framework we have discussed in Part III.C.2. above, the tolling-by-duress doctrine is available with respect to plaintiffs' RICO claims against all of the defendants. Insofar as the Town and the Town Committee are concerned, since American Pipe tolling is not applicable to them (see Part IV.B.1. above), plaintiffs are entitled to trial on their RICO claims against these defendants to the extent that duress is an element of the claim and the claim accrued on or after January 1, 1971, if the duress continued at least until December 14, 1973. 142 Insofar as the County and the County Committee are concerned, since the American Pipe doctrine is applicable to them, all RICO claims of plaintiff class members against these two defendants, whether or not duress is an element, are timely if they accrued on or after December 2, 1971. In addition, because of the availability of the tolling-by-duress principle, any claim against the County or the County Committee of which duress is an element may be timely even if it accrued between January 1, 1971 and December 2, 1971, if the duress continued at least until December 2, 1971.