Cite as: 522 U. S. 192 (1997)
Opinion of the Court
to cure the delinquency within 60 days. On February 9, 1993, the Fund filed this action in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California. In its complaint, App. 6-12, the Fund sought to recover Ferbar's entire $45,570.80 withdrawal liability. In the alternative, it sought the $25,375.00 that had come due prior to the filing of the suit plus an injunction requiring Ferbar to make each future payment when due. The complaint was filed nearly eight years after Ferbar completely withdrew from the Fund in March 1985, six years and eight days after Ferbar missed its first scheduled payment on February 1, 1987, and less than six years after Ferbar missed the second and succeeding payments.
The District Court granted summary judgment to Ferbar on statute of limitations grounds. App. to Pet. for Cert. 6a- 19a. It relied on two alternative rationales. First, the court concluded that 29 U. S. C. § 1451(f)(2)'s three-year "discovery" rule controlled. The Fund's action was therefore time barred, the District Court held, because it was filed well more than three years after the Fund had become aware of Ferbar's delinquency. Second, assuming that § 1451(f)(1)'s six-year "accrual" rule applied, the District Court believed the Fund's action nonetheless time barred. In the court's view, the six-year period began to run on Ferbar's entire $45,570.80 liability on February 1, 1987, the date the company missed its first $345.50 payment. On that view, the action was filed eight days too late.
The Ninth Circuit affirmed, but on different reasoning. 73 F. 3d 971 (1996). The Appeals Court rejected the District Court's conclusion that the Fund was required to sue within three years after learning of the cause of action. Adverting to the express terms of 29 U. S. C. § 1451(f), "which clearly direc[t] courts to apply 'the later of ' the two periods of limitations," 73 F. 3d, at 972, the Ninth Circuit held that the Fund could commence suit up to six years after its cause of action arose. The court also rejected the District Court's
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