Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation v. John H. Meyer

Decided February 23, 1994. Clarence Thomas delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 92-741 · 510 U.S. 471 (1994) · Cited 4,884 times

Holding

In admiralty cases filed in a state court under the Jones Act and the “saving to suitors clause,” federal law does not pre-empt state law regarding the doctrine of forum non conveniens.

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.

• Bivens v. Six Unknown Named Agents of Federal Bureau of Narcotics · 403 U.S. 388 (1971)
• Loeffler v. Frank · 486 U.S. 549 (1988)
• Federal Housing Administration, Region No. 4 v. Burr · 309 U.S. 242 (1940)
• Franchise Tax Board v. United States Postal Service · 467 U.S. 512 (1984)
• United States v. Mitchell · 463 U.S. 206 (1983)
• Richards v. United States · 369 U.S. 1 (1962)
• United States v. Smith · 499 U.S. 160 (1991)
• United States v. Nordic Village, Inc. · 503 U.S. 30 (1992)
• Schweiker v. Chilicky · 487 U.S. 412 (1988)
• International Primate Protection League v. Administrators of Tulane Educational Fund · 500 U.S. 72 (1991)
• United States v. Sherwood · 312 U.S. 584 (1941)
• Connecticut National Bank v. Germain · 503 U.S. 249 (1992)
• Davis v. Passman · 442 U.S. 228 (1979)
• Carlson v. Green · 446 U.S. 14 (1980)
• Smith v. United States · 508 U.S. 223 (1993)
• United States v. Muniz · 374 U.S. 150 (1963)
• Miree v. DeKalb County · 433 U.S. 25 (1977)
• United States v. Standard Oil Co. Of California · 332 U.S. 301 (1947)
• Rayonier Inc. v. United States · 352 U.S. 315 (1957)
• Coit Independence Joint Venture v. Federal Savings & Loan Insurance · 489 U.S. 561 (1989)

Cited by

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

• Correctional Services Corp. v. Malesko · 534 U.S. 61 (2001)
• Ziglar v. Abbasi · 582 U.S. 120 (2017)
• United States Postal Service v. Flamingo Industries (USA) Ltd. · 540 U.S. 736 (2004)
• Wilkie v. Robbins · 551 U.S. 537 (2007)
• Egbert v. Boule · 596 U.S. 482 (2022)
• Brownback v. King · 592 U.S. 209 (2021)
• United States v. Navajo Nation · 556 U.S. 287 (2009)
• United States v. Miller · 604 U.S. 518 (2025)
• Federal Express Corp. v. Holowecki · 552 U.S. 389 (2008)
• Lopez v. Gonzales · 549 U.S. 47 (2006)
• Microsoft Corp. v. At&t Corp. · 550 U.S. 437 (2007)
• Seminole Tribe of Florida v. Florida · 517 U.S. 44 (1996)
• Johnson v. United States · 529 U.S. 694 (2000)
• Dolan v. United States Postal Service · 546 U.S. 481 (2006)
• Henderson v. United States · 517 U.S. 654 (1996)
• S. D. Warren Co. v. Maine Board of Environmental Protection · 547 U.S. 370 (2006)
• Department of Agriculture Rural Development Rural Housing Service v. Kirtz · 601 U.S. 42 (2024)
• Hernández v. Mesa · 589 U.S. 93 (2020)
• Gustafson v. Alloyd Co. · 513 U.S. 561 (1995)
• Stenberg v. Carhart · 530 U.S. 914 (2000)
• Department of the Army v. Blue Fox, Inc. · 525 U.S. 255 (1999)
• Barnhart v. Peabody Coal Co. · 537 U.S. 149 (2003)
• United States v. Alvarez-Sanchez · 511 U.S. 350 (1994)
• Watson v. United States · 552 U.S. 74 (2007)
• Asgrow Seed Co. v. Winterboer · 513 U.S. 179 (1995)
• Federal Election Commission v. NRA Political Victory Fund · 513 U.S. 88 (1994)
• HollyFrontier Cheyenne Refining, LLC v. Renewable Fuels Assn. · 594 U.S. 382 (2021)

Official text

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

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Source: Supreme Court of the United States, slip opinions (1994). 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).