Norfolk Southern Railway Company v. Timothy Sorrell

Decided January 10, 2007. John Glover Roberts Jr. delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 05-746 · 549 U.S. 158 (2007) · Cited 174 times

We don’t yet publish a summary of this opinion — read the official text below for the Court’s holding and reasoning.

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.

• Rogers v. Missouri Pacific Railroad · 352 U.S. 500 (1957)
• Consolidated Rail Corporation v. Gottshall · 512 U.S. 532 (1994)
• Crane v. Cedar Rapids & Iowa City Railway Co. · 395 U.S. 164 (1969)
• Coray v. Southern Pacific Co. · 335 U.S. 520 (1949)
• Norfolk & Western Railway Co. v. Ayers · 538 U.S. 135 (2003)
• Second Employers'liability Cases · 223 U.S. 1 (1912)
• Urie v. Thompson · 337 U.S. 163 (1949)
• Tennant v. Peoria & Pekin Union Railway Co. · 321 U.S. 29 (1944)
• Grand Trunk Railway Co. v. Ives · 144 U.S. 408 (1892)
• Tiller v. Atlantic Coast Line Railroad · 318 U.S. 54 (1943)
• Rodriguez v. United States · 480 U.S. 522 (1987)
• Monessen Southwestern Railway Co. v. Morgan · 486 U.S. 330 (1988)
• Grand Trunk Western Railway Co. v. Lindsay · 233 U.S. 42 (1914)
• Carter v. Atlanta & St. Andrews Bay Railway Co. · 338 U.S. 430 (1949)
• Izumi Seimitsu Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha v. U. S. Philips Corp. · 510 U.S. 27 (1993)
• Wilkerson v. McCarthy · 336 U.S. 53 (1949)

Cited by

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

• Wyeth v. Levine · 555 U.S. 555 (2009)
• A. J. T. v. Osseo Area Schools, Independent School Dist. No. 279 · 605 U.S. 335 (2025)
• Mallory v. Norfolk Southern R. Co · 600 U.S. 122 (2023)

Official text

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

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Source: the U.S. Reports via govinfo.gov; authoring Justice and vote lineup from the Supreme Court Database (Washington University). 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).