This case concerns a 2021 complaint by two trade associations and a convenience store/truck stop challenging a Federal Reserve Board of Governors (Fed) rule promulgated in 2011 that caps debit-card processing fees for large banks. Corner Post, Inc., which runs a small truck stop in North Dakota, was added as a plaintiff in an amended complaint when the Fed moved to dismiss the original complaint on statute of limitations grounds. Although the Fed had issued the rule 10 years earlier, Corner Post first opened for business in 2018 and therefore argues that its Administrative Procedure Act (APA) claim did not accrue until it was first injured by the rule in 2018.
The U.S. District Court for the District of North Dakota dismissed the lawsuit on statute of limitations grounds. Corner Post, Inc. v. Bd. of Governors of the Fed. Rsrv. Sys., No. 1:21-cv-00095, 2022 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 58464, (D.N.D. Mar. 11, 2022). The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit upheld that ruling in N.D. Retail Ass'n v. Bd. of Governors of the Fed. Rsrv. Sys., 55 F.4th 634, 637 (8th Cir. 2022), reasoning that the window of time to file suit for Corner Post was the same as for its co-petitioner trade associations, beginning in 2011 and lasting for six years—namely, the APA’s limitation-of-actions period. 28 U.S.C. § 2401(a). More specifically, the Eighth Circuit ruled that a plaintiff’s claim against an agency’s regulation first accrues when the agency publishes the regulation, regardless of whether the plaintiff existed at the time. Thus, the court ruled that Corner Post’s potential challenge to the Fed rule became time-barred in 2017, a year before Corner Post even came into existence.
Corner Post asks the Supreme Court to reverse the decision of the Eighth Circuit and adopt the position of the Sixth Circuit, which holds that the six-year APA limitation of actions period begins to run when a plaintiff is first “adversely affected” by an agency regulation, not when the rule is published. Such a decision could give rise to numerous challenges to agency rules long after six years from their promulgation. The case is scheduled for oral argument on Feb. 20, 2024.
