Cooper Industries, Inc. v. Aviall Services, Inc.

Decided December 13, 2004. Clarence Thomas delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 02-1192 · 543 U.S. 157 (2004) · Cited 398 times

Holding

A private party who has not been sued under CERCLA § 106 or § 107(a) may not obtain contribution under § 113(f)(1) from other liable parties.

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 7–2.

“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.

• Key Tronic Corp. v. United States · 511 U.S. 809 (1994)
• Texas Industries, Inc. v. Radcliff Materials, Inc. · 451 U.S. 630 (1981)
• Northwest Airlines, Inc. v. Transport Workers Union · 451 U.S. 77 (1981)
• United States v. Mendenhall · 446 U.S. 544 (1980)
• Oncale v. Sundowner Offshore Services, Inc. · 523 U.S. 75 (1998)
• United States v. Nordic Village, Inc. · 503 U.S. 30 (1992)
• Transamerica Mortgage Advisors, Inc. v. Lewis · 444 U.S. 11 (1979)
• Hibbs v. Winn · 542 U.S. 88 (2004)
• Webster v. Fall · 266 U.S. 507 (1925)

Cited by

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

• United States v. Atlantic Research Corp. · 551 U.S. 128 (2007)
• Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission · 558 U.S. 310 (2010)
• Marx v. General Revenue Corp. · 568 U.S. 371 (2013)
• Atlantic Richfield Co. v. Christian · 590 U.S. 1 (2020)
• Clingman v. Beaver · 544 U.S. 581 (2005)
• Boumediene v. Bush · 553 U.S. 723 (2008)
• CIGNA Corp. v. Amara · 563 U.S. 421 (2011)
• Travelers Casualty & Surety Co. of America v. Pacific Gas & Electric Co. · 549 U.S. 443 (2007)
• Burlington Northern & Santa Fe Railway Co. v. United States · 556 U.S. 599 (2009)
• United States ex rel. Eisenstein v. City of New York · 556 U.S. 928 (2009)
• Guam v. United States · 593 U.S. 310 (2021)

Official text

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

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Clarence Thomas’s profile · All Supreme Court opinions · The Supreme Court

Source: Supreme Court of the United States, slip opinions (2004). 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).