John W. Atherton, Jr. v. Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, as Receiver for City Savings, F. S. B.

Decided January 14, 1997. Stephen Gerald Breyer delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 95-928 · 519 U.S. 213 (1997) · Cited 279 times

Holding

State law sets the standard of conduct for officers and directors of federally insured savings institutions as long as the state standard (such as simple negligence) is stricter than that of § 1821(k).

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 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.

• O'Melveny & Myers v. Federal Deposit Insurance · 512 U.S. 79 (1994)
• Wallis v. Pan American Petroleum Corp. · 384 U.S. 63 (1966)
• Erie Railroad v. Tompkins · 304 U.S. 64 (1938)
• United States v. Kimbell Foods, Inc. · 440 U.S. 715 (1979)
• Kamen v. Kemper Financial Services, Inc. · 500 U.S. 90 (1991)
• Texas Industries, Inc. v. Radcliff Materials, Inc. · 451 U.S. 630 (1981)
• Osborn v. Bank of United States · 22 U.S. 738 (1824)
• Boyle v. United Technologies Corp. · 487 U.S. 500 (1988)
• Banco Nacional De Cuba v. Sabbatino · 376 U.S. 398 (1964)
• Clarke v. Securities Industry Assn. · 479 U.S. 388 (1987)
• Edgar v. Mite Corp. · 457 U.S. 624 (1982)
• California Federal Savings & Loan Ass'n v. Guerra · 479 U.S. 272 (1987)
• City of Milwaukee v. Illinois · 451 U.S. 304 (1981)
• United States v. Standard Oil Co. Of California · 332 U.S. 301 (1947)
• Wheeldin v. Wheeler · 373 U.S. 647 (1963)
• Anderson National Bank v. Luckett · 321 U.S. 233 (1944)
• First National Bank in St. Louis v. Missouri · 263 U.S. 640 (1924)
• Veazie Bank v. Fenno · 75 U.S. 533 (1869)
• Howard v. Lyons · 360 U.S. 593 (1959)
• Hinderlider v. La Plata River & Cherry Creek Ditch Co. · 304 U.S. 92 (1938)
• Martin v. Webb · 110 U.S. 7 (1884)

Cited by

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

• Watters v. Wachovia Bank, N. A. · 550 U.S. 1 (2007)
• Camps Newfound/Owatonna, Inc. v. Town of Harrison · 520 U.S. 564 (1997)
• Burlington Industries, Inc. v. Ellerth · 524 U.S. 742 (1998)

Official text

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

Explore from here

Stephen Gerald Breyer’s profile · All Supreme Court opinions · The Supreme Court

Source: Supreme Court of the United States, slip opinions (1997). 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).