Does The New Statute Of Limitations Revive Time-Barred Claims?
The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 extends the statute of limitations for federal securities fraud to the earlier of two years after the discovery of the facts constituting the violation or five years after such violation. Although the legislation clearly provides that it “shall apply to all proceedings addressed by this section that are commenced on or after the date of enactment of this Act [July 30, 2002],” left unresolved is whether Congress intended to revive claims that had already expired under the earlier one year/three years statute of limitations. Courts are beginning to address this issue, with mixed results. In Roberts v. Dean Witter Reynolds Inc., 2003 WL 1936116 (M.D. Fla. March 31, 2003), the district court found that Sarbanes-Oxley revived already time-barred claims because the legislative history demonstrates that Congress intended to achieve that result. The court, however, primarily relied on floor statements made by a single senator and a few sentences in a congressiona
