Opinion ID: 525648
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Claim to Arbitration

Text: 13 The district court correctly held the six-month limitation applicable to appellants' claim to arbitration and correctly distinguished Beardsly in relation to that claim. 14 The evidence indicating that appellants were aware of their right to arbitrate was not the sole basis for the district court's finding that their claim to arbitration had accrued more than six-months before they filed their complaint in court. The district court found that that claim accrued when appellants became aware in 1984 that the IBLE would not thereafter pursue their complaint through a grievance or arbitration procedure. That conclusion is a correct statement of law as applied here, where, unlike the circumstances in Beardsly, appellants were confronted with an express refusal of IBLE to act on their demands. 15 A limitations period accrues when a claimant knows, or should know through an exercise of reasonable diligence, of the acts constituting the alleged violation. See Dowty v. Pioneer Rural Elec. Coop., 770 F.2d 52, 56 (6th Cir.), cert. denied, 474 U.S. 1021, 106 S.Ct. 572, 88 L.Ed.2d 557 (1985); Howard v. Lockheed-Georgia Co., 742 F.2d 612, 614 (11th Cir.1984); Metz v. Tootsie Roll Indus., 715 F.2d 299, 304 (7th Cir.1983), cert. denied, 464 U.S. 1070, 104 S.Ct. 976, 79 L.Ed.2d 214 (1984). Appellants' knowledge of the IBLE's refusal to pursue their complaints in 1984 constitutes knowledge of the the alleged violation of the duty to initiate a grievance/arbitration procedure, and that knowledge triggered the beginning of the limitations period. See Lincoln v. District 9, Int'l Ass'n of Machinists, 723 F.2d 627, 630 (8th Cir.1983); Askew v. F & W Express, Inc., 723 F.2d 624, 625 (8th Cir.1983), cert. denied, 469 U.S. 916, 105 S.Ct. 292, 83 L.Ed.2d 228 (1984); Stahlman v. Kroeger Co., 723 F.2d 621, 622 (8th Cir.1983). Appellants' claim to arbitration had therefore long been barred when it was filed. 16 In sum, the district court's dismissal of appellants' claims against IBLE and Burlington was proper because those claims are barred, having accrued more than six-months before suit was brought. See Lincoln, 723 F.2d at 630; Guy v. Swift & Co., 612 F.2d 383, 385 (8th Cir.1980) (where limitation period has expired, dismissal for failure to state a claim under Rule 12(b)(6), Fed.R.Civ.P., is proper).