Irwin v. Department of Veterans Affairs

Irwin v. Department of Veterans Affairs
Supreme Court of the United States
Argued October 1, 1990 Decided December 3, 1990
Full case name	Shirley W. Irwin, Petitioner v. Department of Veterans Affairs et al.
Citations	498 U.S. 89 (more) 111 S.Ct. 453, 112 L.Ed.2d 435
Argument	Oral argument
Case history
Prior	874 F.2d 1092 (CA5 1989)
Holding
Statutes of limitations in actions against the Government are subject to the same rebuttable presumption of equitable tolling applicable to suits against private defendants.
Court membership
Chief Justice William Rehnquist Associate Justices Byron White · Thurgood Marshall Harry Blackmun · John P. Stevens Sandra Day O'Connor · Antonin Scalia Anthony Kennedy · David Souter
Case opinions
Majority	Rehnquist, joined by Blackmun, O'Connor, Scalia, Kennedy
Concurrence	White (in part and in judgment), joined by Marshall
Souter took no part in the consideration or decision of the case.

Irwin v. Department of Veterans Affairs, 498 U.S. 89 (1990), was a 1990 United States Supreme Court case concerning tolling of limitations statutes in litigation against the federal government. The Court held that suits against the government were subject to the same presumption of equitable tolling as are suits against private parties.^[1]

• Text of Irwin v. Department of Veterans Affairs is available from: Cornell Findlaw Google Scholar Justia Library of Congress Oyez (oral argument audio)