STATUTE OF LIMITATIONS-WRONG FORUM TOLLING ARGUMENT

Williams v. Tech. Mahindra (Ams.) Inc., 2023 U.S. App. LEXIS 14755, ___ F.4th ___ (3d Cir. June 14, 2023) (Phipps, C.J.) In this putative class action, a fired employee sues his former employer alleging a pattern or practice of race discrimination against non-South Asians in violation of 42 U.S.C. § 1981. The employee had previously attempted to join another class action against the company but after that case was stayed, he filed this suit – years after his termination. Williams’s principal contention on appeal is that the District Court erred by dismissing his class action as untimely without addressing his wrong-forum tolling argument. It was error for the District Court to dismiss Williams’s class action allegations as untimely without considering wrong-forum tolling. And because the application of equitable tolling is normally a matter reserved to the sound discretion of the district court, we will vacate the District Court’s judgment and remand the case without retaining jurisdiction. See Doherty, 16 F.3d at 1394; Island Insteel Sys., Inc. v. Waters, 296 F.3d 200, 218, 44 V.I. 389 (3d Cir. 2002). A class plaintiff’s burden in making out a prima facie case of discrimination is different from that of an individual plaintiff “in that the [former] need not initially show discrimination against any particular present or prospective employee,” including himself. United States v. City of New York, 717 F.3d 72, 84 (2d Cir. 2013). As a result, Williams was not required to plead but-for causation on an individual basis to avoid dismissal given the availability of the pattern-or-practice method of proof at later stages of the case. See Swierkiewicz v. Sorema N.A., 534 U.S. 506, 511-12, 122 S. Ct. 992, 152 L. Ed. 2d 1 (2002) (refusing to require a disparate-treatment plaintiff “to plead more facts than he may ultimately need to prove to succeed on the merits” of his claim); see also In re Ins. Brokerage Antitrust Litig., 618 F.3d 300, 324 n.24 (3d Cir. 2010) (cautioning that a plaintiff cannot be forced to “commit to a single method of proof at the pleading stage”); Connelly v. Lane Constr. Corp., 809 F.3d 780, 788 (3d Cir. 2016) (same). Under these principles, as long as Williams’s complaint plausibly alleges a prima facie case under the pattern-or-practice method, his § 1981 claim cannot be dismissed on the ground that he failed to plead that race was the but-for cause of any individual class member’s injury, including his own. For these reasons, we will vacate the District Court’s order and remand the case for the District Court to consider whether wrong-forum tolling applies and/or whether Williams has plausibly pleaded a prima facie pattern-or-practice claim.