Veterans' Benefits Improvement Act's Elimination Of A Statute of Limitations Is Not Applied Retroactively
MIDDLETON v. CITY OF CHICAGO (August 24, 2009)
From 1960 until 1989, Charles Middleton served in the Air Force. On two occasions in the early 1990s, he applied for positions with the City of Chicago. He was not hired for either position. In 2007, Middleton sued the City pursuant to the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act of 1994 (USERRA). He alleged that the City refused to employ him on account of his military service. The district court applied the four year "catch-all" statute of limitations in 28 U.S.C. § 1658 (a) and dismissed his complaint. Middleton appeals.
In their opinion, Judges Kanne, Rovner and Wood affirmed. The Court considered not only the application of § 1658 (a) to the claim but also the provisions of the Veterans' Benefits Improvement Act (VBIA), enacted after the appeal. Section 1658 was enacted in 1990. Its purpose, said the Court, was to minimize the borrowing of state statutes of limitations for federal causes of action. It provided a four-year statute of limitations for any federal claim brought under a later-enacted statute, if the statute had no expressed limitations period. USERRA was enacted four years later and contained no expressed statute of limitations. The Court concluded, based on the plain meaning of the statute, that the four-year limitations applied. In doing so, it rejected the Middleton's arguments that: 1) the section did not apply because USERRA was simply an amendment of an earlier-enacted statute, and 2) the legislative history indicated Congress' intent that no statute of limitations apply. The Court turned its attention to the VBIA. The VBIA eliminates any limitations period for a USERRA cause of action. The Court noted the "well-established" rule that a statute should not be applied retroactively unless Congress' intent is clear. Nothing in the statute addresses retroactivity. The Court concluded that the statute should not be given retroactive effect. Finally, the court rejected Middleton's argument that the VBIA was merely a clarification of existing law.
