Cite as: 521 U. S. 179 (1997)
Opinion of the Court
point the act first causes injury) would have left the plaintiff without relief. This Court held that, in such a case, a claim for the injuries that had been speculative would accrue when those injuries occurred, even though the act that caused them had taken place more than four years earlier. Id., at 339-340. This case does not help the petitioners here, however, for their injuries—the harm to their farm—have always been specific and calculable.
B
We recognize that our holding in Part II-A does not resolve other conflicts among the Circuits. For example, the Circuits have applied "discovery" accrual rules, which extend accrual periods for plaintiffs who could not reasonably obtain certain key items of information. The use of a discovery rule may reflect the fact that a high percentage of civil RICO cases, unlike typical antitrust cases, involve fraud claims. See Sedima, supra, at 499, n. 16 (most civil RICO claims involve underlying fraud offense); 1 A. Mathews, A. Weissman, & J. Sturc, Civil RICO Litigation, p. 1-6 (2d ed. 1992) (citing Report of the Ad Hoc Civil RICO Task Force of the ABA Section of Corporation, Banking and Business Law 243 (1985)) (as of 1985, approximately 90% of civil RICO cases resulting in a published decision involved mail, wire, or securities fraud as a predicate offense); cf. Connors, 935 F. 2d, at 342 (federal courts generally apply discovery accrual rule when statute does not call for a different rule); 1 Corman § 6.5.5.1, at 449 (same). Moreover, different Circuits have applied discovery accrual rules that differ, one from the other, in important ways. Compare, e. g., Bankers Trust, supra, at 1103 (civil RICO cause of action accrues when the plaintiff discovers or should have discovered his injury), with 87 F. 3d, at 238 (civil RICO cause of action accrues when, in addition, plaintiff discovers or should have discovered the "source" of injury and a "pattern").
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