[JURIST] The US Supreme Court [official website; JURIST news archive] ruled Tuesday that the Court of Federal Claims is required to consider whether lawsuits are filed within the relevant statute of limitations even when the parties waive the issue. In John R. Sand & Gravel v. US [Duke Law case backgrounder; JURIST report], the Court held "that the special statute of limitations governing the Court of Federal Claims requires that sua sponte consideration." The case involves a takings claim filed against the government under the Tucker Act, which carries a six-year statute of limitations [28 USC 2501 text]. The government waived the issue of timeliness, but on appeal, the Federal Circuit ruled [PDF text] that the lawsuit should be dismissed because it was not filed within the statute of limitations. The Supreme Court affirmed the Federal Circuit.

Read the Court's opinion [text] per Justice Breyer, along with a dissent [text] from Justice Stevens and a second dissent [text] from Justice Ginsburg. AP has more.