Firestone Tire & Rubber Co. v. Risjord

Decided January 13, 1981. Thurgood Marshall delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 79-1420 · 449 U.S. 368 (1981) · Cited 1,372 times

We don’t yet publish a summary of this opinion — read the official text below for the Court’s holding and reasoning.

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.

• Cohen v. Beneficial Industrial Loan Corp. · 337 U.S. 541 (1949)
• Coopers & Lybrand v. Livesay · 437 U.S. 463 (1978)
• United States v. MacDonald · 435 U.S. 850 (1978)
• DiBella v. United States · 369 U.S. 121 (1962)
• United States v. Ryan · 402 U.S. 530 (1971)
• Mathews v. Eldridge · 424 U.S. 319 (1976)
• Eisen v. Carlisle & Jacquelin · 417 U.S. 156 (1974)
• Catlin v. United States · 324 U.S. 229 (1945)
• Abney v. United States · 431 U.S. 651 (1977)
• Cobbledick v. United States · 309 U.S. 323 (1940)
• Stack v. Boyle · 342 U.S. 1 (1951)
• Will v. United States · 389 U.S. 90 (1967)
• Forgay v. Conrad · 47 U.S. 201 (1848)
• Mercantile Nat. Bank at Dallas v. Langdeau · 371 U.S. 555 (1963)
• United States v. River Rouge Improvement Co. · 269 U.S. 411 (1926)

Cited by

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

• Richardson-Merrell Inc. v. Koller Ex Rel. Koller · 472 U.S. 424 (1985)
• Flanagan v. United States · 465 U.S. 259 (1984)
• Mohawk Industries, Inc. v. Carpenter · 558 U.S. 100 (2009)
• Bullard v. Blue Hills Bank · 575 U.S. 496 (2015)
• Cunningham v. Hamilton County · 527 U.S. 198 (1999)
• Stringfellow v. Concerned Neighbors in Action · 480 U.S. 370 (1987)
• Microsoft Corp. v. Baker · 582 U.S. 23 (2017)
• Mitchell v. Forsyth · 472 U.S. 511 (1985)
• Behrens v. Pelletier · 516 U.S. 299 (1996)
• Digital Equipment Corp. v. Desktop Direct, Inc. · 511 U.S. 863 (1994)
• Moses H. Cone Memorial Hospital v. Mercury Construction Corp. · 460 U.S. 1 (1983)
• Johnson v. Jones · 515 U.S. 304 (1995)
• Christianson v. Colt Industries Operating Corp. · 486 U.S. 800 (1988)
• Puerto Rico Aqueduct and Sewer Authority v. Metcalf & Eddy, Inc. · 506 U.S. 139 (1993)
• Budinich v. Becton Dickinson & Co. · 486 U.S. 196 (1988)
• Gulfstream Aerospace Corp. v. Mayacamas Corp. · 485 U.S. 271 (1988)
• Finley v. United States · 490 U.S. 545 (1989)
• Van Cauwenberghe v. Biard · 486 U.S. 517 (1988)
• Walters v. National Assn. of Radiation Survivors · 473 U.S. 305 (1985)
• Will v. Hallock · 546 U.S. 345 (2006)
• American Trucking Assns., Inc. v. Smith · 496 U.S. 167 (1990)

Official text

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

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Source: the U.S. Reports via govinfo.gov; authoring Justice and vote lineup from the Supreme Court Database (Washington University). 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).