Law Commons^™

Limitation Periods For Federal Causes Of Action After The Judicial Improvements Act Of 1990, M. Patrick Mcdowell

Vanderbilt Law Review

Congress often enacts statutes that create specific causes of action for aggrieved individuals. Many federal statutes, however, create duties with no corresponding action for breach, leaving courts to create causes of action for individuals owed those duties.' When the courts, rather than Congress, create a cause of action, no specific statute of limitations governs the suit. Surprisingly, many statutory causes of action also lack limitation periods." Courts frequently face actions not governed by any statute of limitations because traditionally there has been no general statute of limitations governing all federal actions.

Courts usually are not content to find that a …