Cite as: 507 U. S. 258 (1993)
Opinion of the Court
U. S., at 636. Thus, Crancer held that the court was not required to stay the collection proceeding until the ICC ruled on the reasonableness of rates; not that the court was prohibited from doing so. That is entirely consistent with our holding here.
III
Respondents raise two arguments to the effect that petitioners' § 11705(b)(3) counterclaims are not yet cognizable in court. First, respondents argue that there exists what they denominate as a "pay first" rule, whereby payment of the tariff rate is a "prerequisite to litigating the rate reasonableness issue." Brief for Respondents 23. See also Milne Truck Lines, Inc. v. Makita U. S. A., Inc., 970 F. 2d 564, 572 (CA9 1992) (embracing similar theory). That argument would have merit if the holding in United States ex rel. Louisville Cement Co. v. ICC, 246 U. S. 638 (1918), were still good law. In that case, this Court held that a shipper's cause of action for reparations did not accrue "until payment had been made of the unreasonable charges." Id., at 644. The opinion noted that "if Congress had intended that the cause of action of the shipper to recover damages for unreasonable charges should accrue when the shipment was received, or when it was delivered by the carrier, . . . a simple and obvious form for expressing that intention would have been used." Ibid. Within two years, Congress enacted a simple and obvious provision stating that any "cause of action in respect of a shipment of property shall . . . be deemed to accrue upon delivery or tender of delivery." Transportation Act of 1920, § 424, 41 Stat. 492. That provision survives in substantially the same form in text now codified at 49 U. S. C. § 11706(g). While it is theoretically possible for a statute to create a cause of action that accrues at one time for the purpose of calculating when the statute of limitations begins to run, but at another time for the purpose of bringing suit, we will not infer such an odd result in the absence of any such indication in the statute. We therefore hold that
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