Keith Smith, et al., Petitioners v. Bayer Corporation

Decided June 16, 2011. Elena Kagan delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 09-1205 · 564 U.S. 299 (2011) · Cited 410 times

Holding

In enjoining the state court from considering Smith’s class certification request, the federal court exceeded its authority under the “relitigation exception” to the Act.

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.

• Chick Kam Choo v. Exxon Corp. · 486 U.S. 140 (1988)
• Taylor v. Sturgell · 553 U.S. 880 (2008)
• Atlantic Coast Line Railroad v. Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers · 398 U.S. 281 (1970)
• Devlin v. Scardelletti · 536 U.S. 1 (2002)
• American Pipe & Construction Co. v. Utah · 414 U.S. 538 (1974)
• United Airlines, Inc. v. McDonald · 432 U.S. 385 (1977)
• Landis v. North American Co. · 299 U.S. 248 (1936)
• Parklane Hosiery Co. v. Shore · 439 U.S. 322 (1979)
• Montana v. United States · 440 U.S. 147 (1979)
• Blonder-Tongue Laboratories, Inc. v. University of Illinois Foundation · 402 U.S. 313 (1971)
• Phillips Petroleum Co. v. Shutts · 472 U.S. 797 (1985)
• Semtek International Inc. v. Lockheed Martin Corp. · 531 U.S. 497 (2001)
• Shady Grove Orthopedic Associates, P.A. v. Allstate Insurance Co. · 559 U.S. 393 (2010)
• Cooper v. Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond · 467 U.S. 867 (1984)
• Karcher v. May · 484 U.S. 72 (1987)
• United States ex rel. Eisenstein v. City of New York · 556 U.S. 928 (2009)
• Cortez Byrd Chips, Inc. v. Bill Harbert Construction Co. · 529 U.S. 193 (2000)

Cited by

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

• B&B Hardware, Inc. v. Hargis Industries, Inc. · 575 U.S. 138 (2015)
• West Virginia v. EPA · 597 U.S. 697 (2022)
• United States v. Sanchez-Gomez · 584 U.S. 381 (2018)
• China Agritech, Inc. v. Resh · 584 U.S. 732 (2018)
• Amgen Inc. v. Connecticut Retirement Plans and Trust Funds · 568 U.S. 455 (2013)
• Standard Fire Insurance Co. v. Knowles · 568 U.S. 588 (2013)
• Trump v. CASA, Inc. · 606 U.S. 831 (2025)

Official text

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

Explore from here

Elena Kagan’s profile · All Supreme Court opinions · The Supreme Court

Source: Supreme Court of the United States, slip opinions (2011). 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).