United States Federal Circuit

In an inter-tribal consortium's suit against the Department of Health and Human Services for damages for the underpayment of tribal contractors' contract support costs, district court's dismissal of the breach-of-contract claim under the Contract Disputes Act (CDA) as time barred, is reversed and remanded where equitable tolling should apply to the unique circumstances of this case where the previous class actions involved similar issues and parties, and put the government on notice of the general nature and legal theory underlying plaintiffs' claims. Further, plaintiffs pursued its rights by monitoring the legal landscape and taking action as appropriate, and reasonably relied upon controlling authority which held that it did not need to exhaust administrative remedies to be a class member.

Appellate Information

• Decided 11/09/2012
• Published 11/09/2012

Judges

• Reyna

Court

• United States Federal Circuit

Counsel