In the case of Sun Oil Co. v. Wortman et al., 1987, the U.S Supreme Court ruled that Kansas' statute of limitations could be applied to all parts of a multi-state class action lawsuit for contract and tort claims related to oil royalties, even though some claims arose outside Kansas. The plaintiffs were royalty owners who alleged that Sun Oil had underpaid them by incorrectly calculating the value of natural gas extracted from their lands in several states including Texas, Louisiana and Michigan. They argued that applying Kansas’ shorter limitation period would unfairly bar many out-of-state claimants from pursuing their cases because they relied on longer periods provided by other states where their lands were located. The court held that there was no constitutional problem with using one state's statute of limitations for all claims in a nationwide class action suit if it did not discriminate against or unduly burden interstate commerce or violate due process rights. The decision clarified how statutes of limitations should be applied in complex multistate litigation and affirmed courts' broad discretion to manage such suits.

In the dissenting opinion for Sun Oil Co. v. Wortman et al., Justice Brennan, joined by Justices Marshall and Blackmun, argued that the majority's decision to allow Kansas law to govern all aspects of a contract dispute - despite the fact that many of those contracts were made in other states - was an overreach of Kansas' legislative jurisdiction. They contended that this ruling violated due process rights and principles of federalism because it allowed one state (Kansas) to impose its laws on transactions occurring entirely within another state's borders without any substantial connection or legitimate interest in doing so. The dissenters believed this could lead to unfair results where parties are subjected unexpectedly to a foreign legal system with different rules than they had anticipated when entering into their agreements.