Mark A. Saccullo v. United States

NEWSOM, Circuit Judge:

One relic of the English legal tradition holds that, as a general matter, the sovereign (here, the United States) is not bound by statutes of limitation or subject to laches. The question before us is how this vestigial rule- nullum tempus occurrit regi , or, as the parties here call it, the " Summerlin " principle, after United States v. Summerlin , 310 U.S. 414 , 416, 60 S.Ct. 1019 , 84 L.Ed. 1283 (1940) -interacts with a Florida law designed to correct technical flaws in property-conveyance deeds.

At issue in this case is whether Fla. Stat. § 95.231 , which operates to…