ROBERT ECKSTEIN, et al., Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. BALCOR FILM INVESTORS, et al., Defendants-Appellees., 8 F.3d 1121

Summary

Teaming up to produce low-budget movies, defendants sought investors via initial public offering. Two separate class actions filed under the Securities and Exchange Act of 1934 ("Act"), 15 U.S.C.S. § 78j(b), were transferred to the district court via 28 U.S.C.S. § 1404(a). Section 78aa-1(a) of the Act instructed courts to use "laws applicable in the jurisdiction" on June 19, 1991, to determine relevant limitations period. The district court dismissed both suits as untimely, relying on a 1991 Seventh Circuit rule that the Securities Act of 1933, 15 U.S.C.S. § 77m, applied, giving investors one year from discovering facts constituting a § 78j(b) violation, but no more than three years from violation, to begin suit. The court vacated and remanded. Because § 78aa-1(a) of the Act was a geographically non-uniform federal law, the rule of the transferor forum applied so that a transfer under 28 U.S.C.S. § 1404(a) accomplished "but a change of courtrooms." Thus, § 78aa-1(a) of the Act meant ...