North Star Steel Company v. Thomas (1994)
- Docket
- 94-834
- Decided
- 1994-01-01
Summary
Question: Is state law the proper source of the limitations period for civil actions brought to enforce the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act? Conclusion: Yes. In a 9-0 opinion delivered by Justice David H. Souter, the Court held that State law is the proper source of the limitations period for civil actions brought to enforce WARN. Where a federal statute fails to provide any limitations period for a new cause of action, the Court noted that its longstanding practice has been to borrow the limitations period from the most closely analogous state statute. The Court reasoned that North Star did not fall within the exception where the relevant state limitations periods would frustrate or interfere with the implementation of national policies or be at odds with the purpose or operation of federal substantive law. Justice Antonin Scalia concurred in the judgment.