194
Opinion of the Court
"affirmative continuing acts of fraud . . . coupled with active cover up of the fraud, act to equitably toll the statute of limitations . . . whether or not Petitioners have exercised reasonable diligence to discover their claim." Ibid. (emphasis added).
This question refers to the doctrine of "fraudulent concealment," which some courts have said "equitably tolls" the running of a limitations period, see, e. g., Grimmett, 75 F. 3d, at 514, while other courts have said it is a form of "equitable estoppel," see, e. g., Wolin v. Smith Barney Inc., 83 F. 3d 847, 852 (CA7 1996). Regardless, the question presented here focuses upon a relevant difference among the Circuits in respect to the requirement of "reasonable diligence" on the part of the plaintiff. Some Circuits have held that when a plaintiff does not, in fact, know of a defendant's unlawful activity, and when the defendant takes "affirmative steps" to conceal that unlawful activity, those circumstances are sufficient to toll the limitations period (or to "estop" the defendant from asserting a limitations defense) irrespective of what the plaintiff should have known. See, e. g., id., at 852-853. Other courts have held that a plaintiff who has not exercised reasonable diligence may not benefit from the doctrine. See, e. g., Wood v. Carpenter, 101 U. S. 135, 143 (1879); Bailey, 21 Wall., at 349-350; J. Geils Band Employee Benefit Plan v. Smith Barney Shearson, Inc., 76 F. 3d 1245, 1252- 1255 (CA1 1996) (diligence required for fraudulent concealment under federal law); Urland v. Merrell-Dow Pharmaceuticals, Inc., 822 F. 2d 1268, 1273-1274 (CA3 1987) (same with respect to Pennsylvania law); see also 2 Corman § 9.7.1, at 56-57, 60-61, 64-66.
We limit our consideration of the question to the context of civil RICO. In that context, we conclude that "reasonable diligence" does matter, and a plaintiff who is not reasonably diligent may not assert "fraudulent concealment." We reach this conclusion for two reasons. First, in the related antitrust context, where the "fraudulent concealment" doc-
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