Hercules Incorporated, et al. v. United States

Decided March 4, 1996. William Hubbs Rehnquist delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 94-818 · 516 U.S. 417 (1996) · Cited 525 times

Holding

Petitioners may not recover on their warranty-of-specifications and contractual-indemnification claims.

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 6–2.

“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.

• United States v. Spearin · 248 U.S. 132 (1918)
• Feres v. United States · 340 U.S. 135 (1950)
• Stencel Aero Engineering Corp. v. United States · 431 U.S. 666 (1977)
• Boyle v. United Technologies Corp. · 487 U.S. 500 (1988)
• Sutton v. United States · 256 U.S. 575 (1921)
• United States v. Sherwood · 312 U.S. 584 (1941)
• United States v. Minnesota Mutual Investment Co. · 271 U.S. 212 (1926)
• United States v. Testan · 424 U.S. 392 (1976)
• United States v. Mitchell · 463 U.S. 206 (1983)
• Duke Power Co. v. Carolina Environmental Study Group, Inc. · 438 U.S. 59 (1978)
• Ryan Stevedoring Co. v. Pan-Atlantic Steamship Corp. · 350 U.S. 124 (1956)
• Astoria Federal Savings & Loan Ass'n v. Solimino · 501 U.S. 104 (1991)
• Baltimore & Ohio Railroad v. United States · 261 U.S. 592 (1923)
• Merritt v. United States · 267 U.S. 338 (1925)
• Hatzlachh Supply Co. v. United States · 444 U.S. 460 (1980)
• Tennessee v. Sneed · 96 U.S. 69 (1877)

Cited by

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

• United States v. Winstar Corp. · 518 U.S. 839 (1996)

Official text

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

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Source: Supreme Court of the United States, slip opinions (1996). 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).