Lamps Plus, Inc. v. Varela

Decided April 24, 2019. John Glover Roberts Jr. delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 17-988 · 587 U.S. 176 (2019) · Cited 381 times

Holding

Under the Federal Arbitration Act, an ambiguous agreement cannot provide the necessary contractual basis for concluding that the parties agreed to submit to class arbitration.

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 5–4.

“Concurring” means agreeing with the outcome; any split shown is the Court’s judgment, not each Justice’s reasoning. The lineup is the syllabus’s disposition of who wrote and joined each opinion. Source: the opinion’s syllabus (supremecourt.gov).

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.

• Stolt-Nielsen S. A. v. AnimalFeeds International Corp. · 559 U.S. 662 (2010)
• Camreta v. Greene · 563 U.S. 692 (2011)
• Epic Systems Corp. v. Lewis · 584 U.S. 497 (2018)
• Green Tree Financial Corp.-Alabama v. Randolph · 531 U.S. 79 (2000)
• Mastrobuono v. Shearson Lehman Hutton, Inc. · 514 U.S. 52 (1995)
• Oxford Health Plans LLC v. Sutter · 569 U.S. 564 (2013)
• Microsoft Corp. v. Baker · 582 U.S. 23 (2017)
• First Options of Chicago, Inc. v. Kaplan · 514 U.S. 938 (1995)
• Directv, Inc. v. Imburgia · 577 U.S. 47 (2015)
• Mitsubishi Motors Corp. v. Soler Chrysler-Plymouth, Inc. · 473 U.S. 614 (1985)
• Howsam v. Dean Witter Reynolds, Inc. · 537 U.S. 79 (2002)
• Circuit City Stores, Inc. v. Adams · 532 U.S. 105 (2001)
• Ashcroft v. Iqbal · 556 U.S. 662 (2009)
• Moses H. Cone Memorial Hospital v. Mercury Construction Corp. · 460 U.S. 1 (1983)
• Pembaur v. City of Cincinnati · 475 U.S. 469 (1986)
• Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. v. Dukes · 564 U.S. 338 (2011)
• Volt Info. Sciences, Inc. v. Bd. of Trustees of Leland Stanford Jr. U. · 489 U.S. 468 (1989)
• Prima Paint Corp. v. Flood & Conklin Mfg. Co. · 388 U.S. 395 (1967)
• Gilmer v. Interstate/Johnson Lane Corp. · 500 U.S. 20 (1991)
• Medtronic, Inc. v. Lohr · 518 U.S. 470 (1996)
• Comcast Corp. v. Behrend · 569 U.S. 27 (2013)
• Barrentine v. Arkansas-Best Freight System, Inc. · 450 U.S. 728 (1981)
• United States v. Detroit Timber & Lumber Co. · 200 U.S. 321 (1906)
• Wyeth v. Levine · 555 U.S. 555 (2009)
• Perry v. Thomas · 482 U.S. 483 (1987)
• Equal Employment Opportunity Commission v. Waffle House, Inc. · 534 U.S. 279 (2002)
• Arthur Andersen LLP v. Carlisle · 556 U.S. 624 (2009)
• American Express Co. v. Italian Colors Restaurant · 570 U.S. 228 (2013)
• Ortiz v. Fibreboard Corp. · 527 U.S. 815 (1999)
• Bates v. Dow Agrosciences LLC · 544 U.S. 431 (2005)

Cited by

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

• Smith v. Spizzirri · 601 U.S. 472 (2024)
• Coinbase v. Suski · 602 U.S. 143 (2024)

Official text

Read the official opinion (PDF, supremecourt.gov)

Explore from here

John Glover Roberts Jr.’s profile · All Supreme Court opinions · The Supreme Court

Source: Supreme Court of the United States, slip opinions (2019). 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).