Hugo Black

“ Deeply rooted in our jurisprudence this principle has been applied in many diverse classes of cases by both law and equity courts [6] and has frequently been employed to bar inequitable reliance on statutes of limitations. [7] In Schroeder v. Young, 161 U.S. 334, 16 S.Ct. 512, 40 L.Ed. 721, this Court allowed a debtor to redeem property sold to satisfy a judgment, after the statutory time for redemption had expired although the statute granting the right to redeem also limited that right as to time. ”

“ Despite the delay in filing his suit petitioner is entitled to have his cause tried on the merits if he can prove that respondent's responsible agents, agents with some authority in the particular matter, conducted themselves in such a way that petitioner was justifiably misled into a good-faith belief that he could begin his action at any time within seven years after it had accrued. ”

“ Respondent contended tha while estoppel often prevents defendants from relying on statutes of limitations it can have no such effect in FELA cases for there the time limitation is an integral part of a new cause of action and that cause is irretrievably lost at the end of the statutory period. The District Court, after discussing two lines of cases 'in sharp conflict,' one supporting respondent [3] and one supporting petitioner, [4] concluded with apparent reluctance that it was required by prior decisions of the Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit to dismiss petitioner's suit. ”