In May 2018, we wrote about an interesting Fair Debt Collections Practices Act ("FDCPA") case in the Third Circuit. In that case, the en banc Third Circuit unanimously held that the FDCPA's one-year statute of limitations begins to run on the date that the violation occurs, not on the date that the plaintiff discovers the violation. The plaintiff in that case first learned about the defendant's alleged FDCPA violation approximately five years after it had occurred. The District Court dismissed the case on statute-of-limitations grounds, and the Third Circuit affirmed.
But the case didn't end there. The plaintiff sought review in the United States Supreme Court. Because two other federal courts of appeal had faced the same question and reached the opposite conclusion as the Third Circuit, the Supreme Court agreed to hear the case.