Howard Delivery Service, Inc., et al. v. Zurich American Insurance Co.

Decided June 15, 2006. Ruth Bader Ginsburg delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 05-128 · 547 U.S. 651 (2006) · Cited 194 times

Holding

Insurance carriers’ claims for unpaid workers’ compensation premiums owed by an employer fall outside the priority allowed by §507(a)(5).

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.

• United States v. Embassy Restaurant, Inc. · 359 U.S. 29 (1959)
• Nathanson v. National Labor Relations Board · 344 U.S. 25 (1952)
• United States v. Reorganized CF&I Fabricators of Utah, Inc. · 518 U.S. 213 (1996)
• Kothe v. R. C. Taylor Trust · 280 U.S. 224 (1930)
• General Building Contractors Assn., Inc. v. Pennsylvania · 458 U.S. 375 (1982)
• United States v. Lee · 455 U.S. 252 (1982)
• Hughes Aircraft Co. v. Jacobson · 525 U.S. 432 (1999)
• New York Central Railroad Company v. White · 243 U.S. 188 (1916)
• Central States, Southeast & Southwest Areas Pension Fund v. Central Transport, Inc. · 472 U.S. 559 (1985)
• Sampsell v. Imperial Paper & Color Corp. · 313 U.S. 215 (1941)
• Securities Industry Ass'n v. Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System · 468 U.S. 137 (1984)
• Kuehner v. Irving Trust Co. · 299 U.S. 445 (1937)
• Small Business Administration v. McClellan · 364 U.S. 446 (1960)

Cited by

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

• Florida Department of Revenue v. Piccadilly Cafeterias, Inc. · 554 U.S. 33 (2008)
• Bullard v. Blue Hills Bank · 575 U.S. 496 (2015)
• Ritzen Group, Inc. v. Jackson Masonry, LLC · 589 U.S. 35 (2020)

Official text

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

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Source: Supreme Court of the United States, slip opinions (2006). 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).