Charles Quackenbush, California Insurance Commissioner, et al. v. Allstate Insurance Company

Decided June 3, 1996. Sandra Day O'Connor delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 95-244 · 517 U.S. 706 (1996) · Cited 2,158 times

Holding

The Comptroller of the Currency has reasonably interpreted the term “interest” in § 85 to include late-payment fees, see 12 CFR § 7.4001(a), and petitioner has failed to establish that the Court should not accord its customary deference to the Comptroller’s interpretation of an ambiguous provision of the National Bank Act.

The Court’s statement of the holding, from the opinion’s syllabus. The syllabus is prepared by the Reporter of Decisions and is not part of the opinion of the Court — read the official opinion for authority.

How the Justices voted

Decided 9–0.

“Concurring” means agreeing with the outcome; any split shown is the Court’s judgment, not each Justice’s reasoning. Source: the Supreme Court Database (Spaeth et al.), Washington University.

Precedents cited

Supreme Court decisions this opinion relies on, ordered by how often it cites each. Cases in our collection link through; others are named.

• Burford v. Sun Oil Co. · 319 U.S. 315 (1943)
• New Orleans Public Service, Inc. v. Council of City of New Orleans · 491 U.S. 350 (1989)
• Moses H. Cone Memorial Hospital v. Mercury Construction Corp. · 460 U.S. 1 (1983)
• Colorado River Water Conservation District v. United States · 424 U.S. 800 (1976)
• Louisiana Power & Light Co. v. City of Thibodaux · 360 U.S. 25 (1959)
• County of Allegheny v. Frank Mashuda Co. · 360 U.S. 185 (1959)
• Catlin v. United States · 324 U.S. 229 (1945)
• Gulf Oil Corp. v. Gilbert · 330 U.S. 501 (1947)
• Piper Aircraft Co. v. Reyno · 454 U.S. 235 (1981)
• Thermtron Products, Inc. v. Hermansdorfer · 423 U.S. 336 (1976)
• Digital Equipment Corp. v. Desktop Direct, Inc. · 511 U.S. 863 (1994)
• Fair Assessment in Real Estate Assn., Inc. v. McNary · 454 U.S. 100 (1981)
• Younger v. Harris · 401 U.S. 37 (1971)
• Great Lakes Dredge & Dock Co. v. Huffman · 319 U.S. 293 (1943)
• Cohen v. Beneficial Industrial Loan Corp. · 337 U.S. 541 (1949)
• Railroad Comm'n of Tex. v. Pullman Co. · 312 U.S. 496 (1941)
• American Dredging Co. v. Miller · 510 U.S. 443 (1994)
• Alabama Public Service Commission v. Southern Railway Co. · 341 U.S. 341 (1951)
• Idlewild Bon Voyage Liquor Corp. v. Epstein · 370 U.S. 713 (1962)
• Growe v. Emison · 507 U.S. 25 (1993)
• Pennsylvania v. Williams · 294 U.S. 176 (1935)
• Railroad Commission of Texas v. Rowan & Nichols Oil Co. · 310 U.S. 573 (1940)
• Mitsubishi Motors Corp. v. Soler Chrysler-Plymouth, Inc. · 473 U.S. 614 (1985)
• Coopers & Lybrand v. Livesay · 437 U.S. 463 (1978)
• Wilton v. Seven Falls Co. · 515 U.S. 277 (1995)
• Cohens v. Virginia · 19 U.S. 264 (1821)
• Huffman v. Pursue, Ltd. · 420 U.S. 592 (1975)
• Ankenbrandt Ex Rel. L. R. v. Richards · 504 U.S. 689 (1992)
• Juidice v. Vail · 430 U.S. 327 (1977)
• England v. Louisiana State Board of Medical Examiners · 375 U.S. 411 (1964)

Cited by

Later Supreme Court opinions in our collection that cite this case.

• Osborn v. Haley · 549 U.S. 225 (2007)
• Carlsbad Technology, Inc. v. HIF Bio, Inc. · 556 U.S. 635 (2009)
• Hamdan v. Rumsfeld · 548 U.S. 557 (2006)
• Powerex Corp. v. Reliant Energy Services, Inc. · 551 U.S. 224 (2007)
• Cuozzo Speed Technologies, LLC v. Lee · 579 U.S. 261 (2016)
• Dupree v. Younger · 598 U.S. 729 (2023)
• City of Chicago v. International College of Surgeons · 522 U.S. 156 (1997)
• Cunningham v. Hamilton County · 527 U.S. 198 (1999)
• Woodford v. Ngo · 548 U.S. 81 (2006)
• Sinochem International Co. v. Malaysia International Shipping Corp. · 549 U.S. 422 (2007)
• Clay v. United States · 537 U.S. 522 (2003)
• Jefferson County v. Acker · 527 U.S. 423 (1999)
• Kircher v. Putnam Funds Trust · 547 U.S. 633 (2006)

Official text

Read the official opinion (U.S. Reports, govinfo.gov)

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Source: Supreme Court of the United States, slip opinions (1996). Citation count from the Free Law Project’s CourtListener bulk data. Data last verified 2026-07-03. Informational only; verify against the primary source before relying. Not a consumer report (FCRA).