Federal causes of action

The claims filed most often in United States district courts. Each page covers what the claim is, where the right comes from, what a plaintiff has to prove, how long they have to file, what has to happen before filing, who can be sued, what the defenses are and what the claim actually pays.

No causes of action match that search.

• Section 198342 U.S.C. § 1983Section 1983 lets you sue state and local officials who violate your federal rights. There is no federal deadline — the clock comes from state law. Qualified immunity is the main obstacle.
• Title VII42 U.S.C. § 2000e et seq.Title VII covers race, color, religion, sex, and national origin discrimination at work. You must file an EEOC charge first — 180 or 300 days — then sue within 90 days of the right-to-sue letter.
• ADA Title III42 U.S.C. §§ 12182, 12188ADA Title III forces businesses to remove accessibility barriers. It pays no damages at all — only an injunction and attorney's fees. The money in these cases comes from state law.
• Copyright infringement17 U.S.C. §§ 106, 501You own a copyright the moment you create the work, but you cannot sue until the Copyright Office acts on your registration. The deadline is three years — and in 2024 the damages window stopped being three.
• FLSA29 U.S.C. §§ 206, 207, 216(b)The FLSA gives you two years to sue for unpaid overtime, three if the violation was willful. In a collective action the clock keeps running until you personally file a written consent.
• ERISA § 502(a)29 U.S.C. § 1132(a)ERISA is how you sue over a denied benefit from an employer plan. You must exhaust the plan's appeals first, and the statute pays no pain-and-suffering or punitive damages at all.
• FCRA15 U.S.C. § 1681 et seq.The FCRA lets you sue credit bureaus and the companies that report to them. But you must dispute through the bureau first, and since 2021 a wrong report nobody saw may not get you into federal court.
• Lanham Act15 U.S.C. §§ 1114, 1125(a)You can sue for trademark infringement without ever registering the mark. There is no statute of limitations — laches does the work — and consumers cannot bring false advertising claims at all.
• Patent infringement35 U.S.C. § 271Patent law has no statute of limitations. Section 286 is a damages cap, not a filing deadline — you can sue over ten-year-old infringement and still recover for the last six years.
• FDCPA15 U.S.C. § 1692 et seq.The FDCPA covers third-party debt collectors, not the bank you originally borrowed from. You have one year from the violation — not from when you found out — and statutory damages cap at $1,000 per case.
• Social Security disability appeals42 U.S.C. § 405(g)After the Appeals Council denies your disability claim you have 60 days to sue — and the deadline can be extended. Most winners get a remand, not benefits, and which kind of remand you get decides your lawyer's fee.
• ADA Title I42 U.S.C. §§ 12112, 12117ADA Title I covers disability discrimination by employers with 15 or more workers. You must file an EEOC charge first, and state employers cannot be sued for damages at all.
• ADA Title II42 U.S.C. §§ 12132, 12133ADA Title II covers state and local governments — courthouses, prisons, transit, schools. Whether you can get damages from a state depends on which constitutional right the conduct implicated.
• Section 198142 U.S.C. § 1981Section 1981 covers racial discrimination in contracting and employment. There is no EEOC charge, up to four years to file, and no cap on damages — but race must be a but-for cause.
• ADEA29 U.S.C. § 621 et seq.The ADEA protects workers 40 and older at employers with 20 or more employees. Age must be the but-for cause, and the statute pays no emotional distress or punitive damages at all.
• FMLA29 U.S.C. §§ 2612, 2615, 2617The FMLA gives two separate claims. Interference needs no proof of bad intent — denying leave you were entitled to is enough. Retaliation does. And your supervisor can be personally liable.
• FTCA28 U.S.C. §§ 1346(b), 2671–2680Before you can sue the federal government in tort you must present a written claim with a dollar figure to the agency — within two years. Most circuits treat that step as jurisdictional and uncurable.
• Civil RICO18 U.S.C. §§ 1962, 1964(c)Civil RICO pays triple damages and attorney's fees, which is why it gets pleaded everywhere. Most claims fail on proximate cause — your injury has to be directly caused, not just downstream.
• Fair Housing Act42 U.S.C. §§ 3604, 3613The Fair Housing Act gives you two years to sue, no agency filing required, and no cap on damages. Testers have standing, disparate impact is available, and small owner-occupied buildings are exempt.
• TCPA47 U.S.C. § 227The TCPA pays $500 per illegal call or text, tripled to $1,500 if willful, with a four-year deadline and nothing to file first. But the definition of an autodialer narrowed sharply in 2021.
• False Claims Act31 U.S.C. §§ 3729–3733A private whistleblower can sue for fraud against the government, file it under seal, and keep 15 to 30 percent of a treble-damages recovery. Since 2023 an honest but wrong reading of the rules is a defense.
• Securities fraud under Rule 10b-515 U.S.C. § 78j(b); 17 C.F.R. § 240.10b-5The 10b-5 claim was never written by Congress — courts implied it. You get two years from discovery, five years absolute, and the five-year clock cannot be tolled by anything.
• Rehabilitation Act § 50429 U.S.C. § 794Section 504 reaches any program receiving federal funds — and unlike the ADA, states waive their immunity by taking the money. But since 2022 you cannot recover for emotional distress.
• Title IX20 U.S.C. § 1681Title IX lets students sue schools over sex discrimination and harassment — but only where an official who could act knew and was deliberately indifferent. Emotional distress damages ended in 2022.
• IDEA20 U.S.C. § 1415(i)(2)After a special education due process hearing you have 90 days to appeal to federal court. IDEA pays no damages — but since 2023 you may bring an ADA damages claim without exhausting it first.
• Truth in Lending Act15 U.S.C. §§ 1635, 1640To rescind a mortgage under TILA you must notify the lender in writing within three years. You do not have to file suit in that time — a rule the Supreme Court settled in 2015 and sources still get wrong.
• Defend Trade Secrets Act18 U.S.C. § 1836The DTSA gives trade secret owners a federal forum, three years from discovery, and double damages for willful theft — but only if your confidentiality agreements carry a specific whistleblower notice.
• Antitrust15 U.S.C. §§ 1, 2, 15Antitrust pays triple damages and mandatory attorney's fees. But only direct purchasers can recover, parallel pricing alone will not survive a motion to dismiss, and a winning defendant gets nothing.
• BivensBivens v. Six Unknown Named Agents, 403 U.S. 388 (1971)Section 1983 does not reach federal officers. Bivens does — but the Supreme Court has refused every proposed extension since 1980, and after 2022 a single reason to hesitate defeats the claim.
• Section 1985(3)42 U.S.C. § 1985(3)Section 1985(3) reaches private conspiracies, not just state actors — but only those driven by class-based invidious animus. Its companion, section 1986, carries a one-year deadline that catches people out.
• APA review5 U.S.C. §§ 702, 704, 706The Administrative Procedure Act is how you challenge a federal rule or decision. Four gates gate the courthouse — and since 2024 courts no longer defer to an agency's reading of its own statute.
• Suing over agency delay5 U.S.C. § 706(1); 28 U.S.C. § 1361If an agency has sat on your application for years, you can sue to make it decide. You win an order to rule, not a favourable ruling — and processing "goals" are not deadlines.
• Habeas corpus for state prisoners28 U.S.C. § 2254A federal habeas petition has a one-year deadline with four possible start dates, three separate pre-suit gates, and a standard so deferential that being wrong is not enough — the state court must be unreasonable.
• Section 225528 U.S.C. § 2255Federal prisoners attack their sentences by motion in the sentencing court, not by habeas petition where they are held. One year to file, and since 2023 the escape hatch is nearly closed.
• FOIA5 U.S.C. § 552Anyone can request federal records, and anyone can sue when they are withheld. The agency bears the burden of justifying every withholding — and missing its 20-day deadline lets you sue immediately.
• LMRA § 30129 U.S.C. § 185An employee suing over a union contract must usually prove the union failed them too — and has only six months. But that six-month clock does not govern every section 301 case, which is the rule sources most often botch.
• Title VI42 U.S.C. § 2000dTitle VI bars race and national origin discrimination in federally funded programs — but only intentional discrimination. Private plaintiffs cannot sue over disparate impact, and cannot recover for emotional distress.
• Environmental citizen suits33 U.S.C. § 1365; 42 U.S.C. § 7604Ordinary people can sue polluters directly under the Clean Water and Clean Air Acts — but only after 60 days' written notice, and only for ongoing violations. The penalties go to the Treasury, not to you.
• RESPA12 U.S.C. §§ 2605, 2614If your mortgage servicer ignored a qualified written request, RESPA gives you a claim. But you must prove actual damages first — statutory damages alone will not carry the case.
• Bankruptcy appeals28 U.S.C. § 158A bankruptcy appeal is due in 14 days, not 30 — and in five circuits you can choose between the district court and a Bankruptcy Appellate Panel. Whether the deadline is jurisdictional splits the circuits.
• EFTA15 U.S.C. § 1693 et seq.; 12 C.F.R. pt. 1005Report an unauthorized debit or ACH within 60 days and the bank must investigate and recredit. The 60 days is not your lawsuit deadline — you have a year to sue, and the bank must prove the transfer was authorized.
• ECOA15 U.S.C. § 1691 et seq.The Equal Credit Opportunity Act covers business credit as well as consumer credit, gives you five years to sue, and requires no agency charge. Failing to send the adverse-action notice is itself the violation.
• WARN Act29 U.S.C. § 2101 et seq.Large employers must give 60 days' written notice before a plant closing or mass layoff. There is no federal deadline to sue — courts borrow a state period — and the three exceptions shorten notice rather than eliminate it.
• Carmack Amendment49 U.S.C. § 14706The Carmack Amendment preempts state-law cargo claims and shifts the burden to the carrier once you prove good condition at origin and damage at delivery. The nine-month claim deadline comes from your bill of lading, not the statute.
• ACA § 155742 U.S.C. § 18116Section 1557 bars discrimination in federally funded health programs — but it has no remedies of its own. It borrows four other statutes, which is why emotional distress damages are unavailable.
• Computer Fraud and Abuse Act18 U.S.C. § 1030(g)The CFAA gives a civil claim for unauthorized computer access, with a $5,000 loss threshold and two years to sue. Since 2021, violating a use policy or terms of service is no longer enough.
• USERRA38 U.S.C. § 4301 et seq.USERRA protects service members' jobs — and Congress expressly abolished any limitations period for filing. Your supervisor can be personally liable, which is not true under most employment statutes.
• Magnuson-Moss15 U.S.C. § 2310The federal warranty statute pays your attorney's fees, which is what makes small claims worth bringing. But federal court needs $50,000, and if the warrantor runs a dispute programme you may have to use it first.
• Stored Communications Act18 U.S.C. § 2707The Stored Communications Act creates a civil claim with a $1,000 minimum recovery and two years from discovery. But some circuits require actual damages before that floor applies.