Under the common law, statutes of limitations do not apply to the State and public entities. This is known as the “nullum tempus occurrit regi” doctrine, i.e., time does not run against the king. Arizona has a statute that codifies most of this. A.R.S. § 12-510. Here, one public entity sued another, and the issue was whether A.R.S. § 12-821, the one-year limitations against public entities, applies when a public entity is the plaintiff. The statute states: “All actions against any public entity or public employee shall be brought within one year after the cause of action accrues and not afterward.”

The Arizona Supreme Court held that the statute does not expressly override the common law and, in context, appears in a section involving claims by private parties against public entities. Justice Beene, who authored the opinion, distinguished the Glenayre Electronics and played the textualists’ get-out-of-text-free cards well. Thus, the word “all” is not absolute. The court devoted a few paragraphs to countering Justice Bolick’s dissent. Justice Bolick’s textualism takes a more absolutist view. All means all. Sort of Shylockian, we might add.

link to opinion