Future Retirement Success
  • Politics
  • Business
  • Investing
  • Stocks
  • Politics
  • Business
  • Investing
  • Stocks

Future Retirement Success

Investing

How Can You Miss a Deadline Before You Even Exist?

by May 24, 2023
May 24, 2023

Thomas A. Berry and Isaiah McKinney

Corner Post is a convenience store and truck stop in Watford City, North Dakota. Like many similar shops, its business model relies on a high volume of small‐​dollar transactions. And when customers pay for those purchases with debit cards, merchants like Corner Post pay a set fee to banks to process the transactions. Although this fee is 21 cents per transaction, the cost adds up quickly over numerous sales and is a significant operating expense for any business model that relies on small‐​dollar purchases.

The rate of 21 cents per transaction was set in 2011, when the Federal Reserve Board issued a regulation establishing that fee amount. The actual cost for banks to process each transaction ranges from 3.6 to 5 cents.

Corner Post opened for business in 2018, and a few years later it challenged this fee‐​setting regulation under the Administrative Procedure Act (“APA”) in the U.S. District Court for the District of North Dakota. Corner Post argued that the 21‐​cent rate set by the regulation was not “reasonable and proportional to the cost” that the banks incurred and that the regulation therefore exceeded the Board’s statutory authority.

But the district court never reached the merits of Corner Post’s legal argument. Instead, the court dismissed Corner Post’s case as being brought too late, holding that the suit was barred by the APA’s statute of limitations. The APA sets a six‐​year time limit for legal challenges to agency rules, and the court held that this time limit started running for Corner Post when the regulation was issued in 2011. The court thus held that Corner Post’s time to challenge the rule expired in 2017, a year before Corner Post opened its doors for business.

The Eighth Circuit affirmed the district court’s decision, and Corner Post petitioned the Supreme Court for review. The Cato Institute has now filed an amicus brief in support of Corner Post’s petition (with thanks to a team of Wiley Rein attorneys who took the lead on drafting our brief: Jeremy Broggi, Michael Showalter, Boyd Garriott, and Hannah Bingham).

Our brief explains that under the text of the APA’s statute of limitations, the six‐​year clock does not start until a particular plaintiff is actually injured (for Corner Post, it did not start until the business opened in 2018). For hundreds of years, the start date for statutes of limitations has traditionally been the date of a plaintiff’s injury, and nothing in the APA’s text contradicts that traditional understanding.

The government argues that since the APA provides for review of “final agency action,” the statute of limitations implicitly begins for all plaintiffs whenever the “final agency action” occurs (in this case, when the regulation was issued in 2011). But nothing in the text of the APA requires this reading; Congress did not explicitly depart from the traditional rule that the clock starts on the date of injury. The better reading of the APA is that the clock does not start until a plaintiff is injured and the agency action is final—in other words, finality is a necessary but not sufficient requirement to start the six‐​year clock.

The government’s argument would impermissibly protect agencies from lawsuits by businesses that did not even exist when a regulation was issued. Since Corner Post opened more than six years after the Board’s regulation was issued, the government’s approach would mean Corner Post never had a chance to challenge these burdensome regulations. The Supreme Court should take this case to correct the Eighth Circuit’s erroneous decision and allow Corner Post and others to challenge unlawful regulations.

0
FacebookTwitterGoogle +Pinterest
previous post
Bingo Reimagined: How Online Platforms are Innovating the Classic Game
next post
Hershey Stock Pulls Back: Now’s Your Second Chance

You may also like

United States v. Duarte Brief: Universal, Lifetime Disarmament...

September 24, 2024

Friday Feature: Pennsylvania Families for Education Choice

September 27, 2024

North Carolina’s $1.2 Billion Bet on EV Startup...

April 23, 2024

Lessons from Honolulu’s New Train System

July 7, 2023

U.S. Food Aid for Poor Countries

September 13, 2023

New York City Can’t Force Owners to Rent...

June 12, 2023

Q&A with House Budget Committee Members

December 19, 2024

Benjamin M. Anderson: Hayek’s Precursor on the Knowledge...

November 18, 2024

Friday Feature: Redeemer Classical School

March 21, 2025

Autonomy and Affordability: Solving Homelessness Without Coercion

December 13, 2024

    Get free access to all of the retirement secrets and income strategies from our experts! or Join The Exclusive Subscription Today And Get the Premium Articles Acess for Free

    By opting in you agree to receive emails from us and our affiliates. Your information is secure and your privacy is protected.

    Recent Posts

    • Trump ally stands firm against ‘big, beautiful bill’ despite pressure: ‘It’ll completely backfire’

      June 8, 2025
    • Rubio condemns assassination attempt on Colombian presidential candidate Miguel Uribe

      June 8, 2025
    • Obama WH physician says Biden doc should have performed cognitive test

      June 8, 2025
    • Trump warns of ‘serious consequences’ if Elon Musk funds Democrats

      June 7, 2025
    • Musk jokes about reconsidering stance on Big Beautiful Bill after Schiff’s praise

      June 7, 2025
    • Musk deletes explosive posts about Trump and Epstein files

      June 7, 2025

    Categories

    • Business (8,152)
    • Investing (2,019)
    • Politics (15,571)
    • Stocks (3,136)
    • About us
    • Privacy Policy
    • Terms & Conditions

    Disclaimer: futureretirementsuccess.com, its managers, its employees, and assigns (collectively “The Company”) do not make any guarantee or warranty about what is advertised above. Information provided by this website is for research purposes only and should not be considered as personalized financial advice. The Company is not affiliated with, nor does it receive compensation from, any specific security. The Company is not registered or licensed by any governing body in any jurisdiction to give investing advice or provide investment recommendation. Any investments recommended here should be taken into consideration only after consulting with your investment advisor and after reviewing the prospectus or financial statements of the company.

    Copyright © 2025 futureretirementsuccess.com | All Rights Reserved