200
Opinion of the Court
alternative conclusion that the Fund's cause of action accrued on the date of the first missed payment. Relying on its earlier decision in Board of Trustees v. Thibodo, 34 F. 3d 914 (1994), the Court of Appeals held that "the limitations period begins to run from the date of complete withdrawal— in this case, March 1985." 73 F. 3d, at 973. Under that reading, the action was filed nearly two years too late.
As Judge Trott indicated in his concurring opinion, ibid., the Ninth Circuit's decision conflicts with an earlier decision of the District of Columbia Circuit, Joyce v. Clyde Sandoz Masonry, 871 F. 2d 1119 (1989). Joyce held that the statute of limitations on an action to collect unpaid withdrawal liability runs from the date the employer misses a scheduled payment, not from the date of complete withdrawal. Id., at 1122-1127. The Third and Seventh Circuits have also held that the statute of limitations runs from the failure to make a payment, although they have disagreed as to whether each missed payment carries a separate limitations period or whether the first missed payment triggers the limitations period for the entire withdrawal liability. See Board of Trustees of District 15 Machinists' Pension Fund v. Kahle Engineering Corp., 43 F. 3d 852, 857-861 (CA3 1994) (statute of limitations runs from each missed payment); Central States, Southeast and Southwest Areas Pension Fund v. Navco, 3 F. 3d 167, 172-173 (CA7 1993) (statute of limitations runs from first missed payment). We granted certiorari, 520 U. S. 1209 (1997), to resolve these conflicts.
II
The Court of Appeals held that the statute of limitations on a pension plan's action to recover unpaid withdrawal liability runs from the date the employer withdraws from the plan. On that view, the limitations period commences at a time when the plan could not yet file suit. Such a result is inconsistent with basic limitations principles, and we reject it. A plan cannot maintain an action until the employer
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