Opinion ID: 76635
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The Freeman Plaintiffs

Text: 31 Six of the employees — Creamer, Frost, Gregory, Krollman, Maccia, and Nelson — base their ADEA claims on the EEOC charges from the Freeman suit. The Freeman plaintiffs were employed by FedEx when the named plaintiffs in Freeman filed their charges of discrimination. If the charges of the named plaintiffs in Freeman were untimely, these plaintiffs would not be entitled to piggyback on the charges. 32 The district court concluded that the Freeman plaintiffs waited too long after the dismissal of Freeman to file a new action based on those charges. The Freeman plaintiffs maintain, however, that the statute of limitations for filing the current action was tolled until March 28, 2002, the date they contend that the Freeman litigation ended, and this action was filed on May 9, 2002, less than 90 days later. 33 The EEOC issued the last right-to-sue letter to any of the plaintiffs in Freeman on September 15, 1999. On September 25, 2000, the district court dismissed Freeman without prejudice and instructed the plaintiffs to amend their complaint by October 23, 2000. They instead elected to appeal the dismissal and order to amend. The involuntary dismissal without prejudice thus became an adjudication on the merits when the time to amend expired on October 23, 2000. See Robinson v. Fed. Nat'l Mortgage Ass'n, 673 F.2d 1247, 1249 (11th Cir.1982). We affirmed the judgment, and the Freeman complaint was never properly amended. On March 28, 2002, at the urging of FedEx, the district court issued an administrative order confirming that the dismissal without prejudice from September 2000 had become an adjudication on the merits in October 2000. 34 Under the ADEA, an employee has 90 days after obtaining a right-to-sue letter to file an action. See Santini, 232 F.3d at 825. Dismissal of a complaint, without prejudice, does not allow a later complaint to be filed outside the statute of limitations. See Stein v. Reynolds Sec., Inc., 667 F.2d 33, 34 (11th Cir.1982). That period elapsed before the Freeman plaintiffs filed their new complaint. 35 The Freeman plaintiffs contend that the running of the 90-day period for filing an action should be tolled until March 28, 2002. We disagree. All claims in Freeman were resolved on October 23, 2000, when the time to amend expired. The statute of limitations began to run then. This action, however, was not filed until May 9, 2002, 604 days later. 36 Although a court may equitably toll a limitations period, the plaintiffs must establish that tolling is warranted. See Justice v. United States, 6 F.3d 1474, 1479 (11th Cir.1993). Equitable tolling is inappropriate when a plaintiff did not file an action promptly or failed to act with due diligence. See id. Equitable tolling is an extraordinary remedy which should be extended only sparingly. Id. The Freeman plaintiffs fail to explain why they did not file an amended complaint in Freeman, as the district court directed, nor have they explained why we should apply the doctrine of equitable tolling to revive their complaint. The claims of the Freeman plaintiffs, therefore, fail.