New Prime Inc. v. Oliveira

Decided January 15, 2019. Neil M. Gorsuch delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 17-340 · 586 U.S. 105 (2019) · Cited 391 times

Holding

A court should determine whether the Federal Arbitration Act’s §1 exclusion for disputes involving the “contracts of employment” of certain transportation workers applies before ordering arbitration; here, truck driver Oliveira’s independent contractor operating agreement with New Prime falls within that exception.

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 8–0.

“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.

• Circuit City Stores, Inc. v. Adams · 532 U.S. 105 (2001)
• Rent-A-Center, West, Inc. v. Jackson · 561 U.S. 63 (2010)
• Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System v. Dimension Financial Corp. · 474 U.S. 361 (1986)
• Moses H. Cone Memorial Hospital v. Mercury Construction Corp. · 460 U.S. 1 (1983)
• Prima Paint Corp. v. Flood & Conklin Mfg. Co. · 388 U.S. 395 (1967)
• H. J. Inc. v. Northwestern Bell Telephone Co. · 492 U.S. 229 (1989)
• Southland Corp. v. Keating · 465 U.S. 1 (1984)
• Immigration & Naturalization Service v. Chadha · 462 U.S. 919 (1983)
• Perrin v. United States · 444 U.S. 37 (1979)
• Bernhardt v. Polygraphic Co. of America, Inc. · 350 U.S. 198 (1956)
• MCI Telecommunications Corp. v. American Telephone & Telegraph Co. · 512 U.S. 218 (1994)
• Business Electronics Corp. v. Sharp Electronics Corp. · 485 U.S. 717 (1988)
• Securities & Exchange Commission v. Zandford · 535 U.S. 813 (2002)
• United States v. Sisson · 399 U.S. 267 (1970)
• Coppage v. Kansas · 236 U.S. 1 (1915)
• Sandifer v. United States Steel Corp. · 571 U.S. 220 (2014)
• West v. Gibson · 527 U.S. 212 (1999)
• Kimble v. Marvel Entertainment, LLC · 576 U.S. 466 (2015)
• Wisconsin Central Ltd. v. United States · 585 U.S. 274 (2018)
• United States v. Detroit Timber & Lumber Co. · 200 U.S. 321 (1906)

Cited by

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

• Bostock v. Clayton County · 590 U.S. 644 (2020)
• Bissonnette v. LePage Bakeries Park St., LLC · 601 U.S. 246 (2024)

Official text

Read the official opinion (PDF, supremecourt.gov)

Explore from here

Neil M. Gorsuch’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).