Opinion ID: 167403
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: The ARB Dismissed Petitioner's Administrative Complaint as Untimely

Text: 16 On appeal, the ARB issued a decision on November 22, 2004, granting summary judgment to NORDAM and dismissing petitioner's complaint for almost the same reasons as the ALJ. Id., Doc. 21. The ARB repeated the ALJ's misstatement of the district court's holding, stating that petitioner's state claim was preempted rather than completely preempted. Id. at 2. Then the ARB dismissed because petitioner's state suit cited state law instead of the precise statutory claim, AIR21. Id. at 4. The ARB also stated that an AIR21 claim had different requirements of pleading and proof than petitioner's state claim, and was therefore not the same. Id. The ARB also stated that equitable tolling is generally unavailable when a claimant is represented by counsel. Id. (An examination of the one circuit case upon which the ARB relied shows that this was not an independent basis for that court to deny equitable tolling, but a factor in determining whether the plaintiff was misled into missing his filing deadline. See Smith, 571 F.2d at 109-10.)