Attorney's misrepresentations may have tolled time limit on plaintiff's Title VII claim under equitable tolling doctrine

Law Reporter, May 1999

Attorney's misrepresentations may have tolled time limit on plaintiff's Title VII claim under equitable tolling doctrine.

Seitzinger v. Reading Host. and Med. Ctr., 165 F.3d 236 (3d Cir. 1999).

The Third Circuit Court of Appeals held that summary judgment for defendant in a Title VII case was improper where plaintiff's attorney had directly lied to her about whether he had timely filed her complaint.

Here, plaintiff in a Title VII case was told by her attorney that he had filed a complaint in the case and would be sending her a copy of the document. The complaint was actually filed after this conversation. The trial court later granted defendant summary judgment on the basis that the complaint had not been timely filed.

Reversing the case in part, the Third Circuit noted that in narrow circumstances, an attorney's misbehavior may warrant equitable relief for a client. Under the equitable tolling doctrine, the court found, plaintiffs may sue after the expiration of the applicable statute of limitations if they have been prevented from timely filing because of sufficiently inequitable circumstances.

Citing U.S. Supreme Court case law, the court nonetheless noted that in Title VII cases, equitable tolling principles do not extend to "garden variety" claims of attorney neglect.

Applying these principles, the court here concluded that the attorney's misbehavior was well beyond garden variety in that he affirmatively lied to his client, who, the court pointed out, was extremely diligent in pursuing her claim. Additionally, the court found, defendant has not presented evidence of prejudice resulting from the delayed filing of plaintiff's claim. Therefore, the court concluded, a reasonable factfinder could conclude that equitable tolling applied to plaintiff's case.

Thus, the court remanded.

Plaintiffs Counsel:

Stephen M. Latimer, Hackensack, N.J.

Lucille M. Rosano, Hackensack, N.J.