Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation v. Philadelphia Gear Corp.

Decided May 27, 1986. Sandra Day O'Connor delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 84-1972 · 476 U.S. 426 (1986) · Cited 151 times

Holding

A standby letter of credit backed by a contingent promissory note does not give rise to an insured deposit.

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 6–3.

“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.

• Chevron U. S. A. Inc. v. Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc. · 467 U.S. 837 (1984)
• Florida Power & Light Co. v. Lorion · 470 U.S. 729 (1985)
• D'Oench, Duhme & Co. v. Federal Deposit Insurance · 315 U.S. 447 (1942)
• National Labor Relations Board v. Bell Aerospace Co. · 416 U.S. 267 (1974)
• Watt v. Alaska · 451 U.S. 259 (1981)
• Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System v. Dimension Financial Corp. · 474 U.S. 361 (1986)
• Zenith Radio Corp. v. United States · 437 U.S. 443 (1978)
• United States v. Yermian · 468 U.S. 63 (1984)
• First National Bank in Plant City v. Dickinson · 396 U.S. 122 (1969)

Cited by

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

• United States v. Mead Corp. · 533 U.S. 218 (2001)
• Toyota Motor Manufacturing, Kentucky, Inc. v. Williams · 534 U.S. 184 (2002)
• Bragdon v. Abbott · 524 U.S. 624 (1998)
• Public Citizen v. United States Department of Justice · 491 U.S. 440 (1989)
• Commodity Futures Trading Commission v. Schor · 478 U.S. 833 (1986)
• Monsalvo Velazquez v. Bondi · 604 U.S. 712 (2025)

Official text

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

Explore from here

Sandra Day O'Connor’s profile · All Supreme Court opinions · The Supreme Court

Source: Supreme Court of the United States, slip opinions (1986). 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).