Foremost-McKesson, Inc. v. Provident Securities Co.

Decided January 13, 1976. Lewis Franklin Powell Jr. delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 74-742 · 423 U.S. 232 (1976) · Cited 154 times

Holding

By virtue of the exemptive provision a beneficial owner is accountable under 16(b) in a purchase-sale sequence such as was involved here only if he was such an owner "before the purchase." Thus, the fact that respondent was not a beneficial owner before the purchase removed the transaction from the operation of 16(b).

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 8–0.

“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.

• Reliance Electric Co. v. Emerson Electric Co. · 404 U.S. 418 (1972)
• Kern County Land Co. v. Occidental Petroleum Corp. · 411 U.S. 582 (1973)
• Coates v. Securities & Exchange Commission · 394 U.S. 976 (1969)

Cited by

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

• Ernst & Ernst v. Hochfelder · 425 U.S. 185 (1976)
• Gollust v. Mendell · 501 U.S. 115 (1991)
• Chiarella v. United States · 445 U.S. 222 (1980)

Official text

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

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Lewis Franklin Powell Jr.’s profile · All Supreme Court opinions · The Supreme Court

Source: Supreme Court of the United States, slip opinions (1976). 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).