Stolt-Nielsen S. a., et al. v. Animalfeeds International Corp.

Decided April 27, 2010. Samuel A. Alito Jr. delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 08-1198 · 559 U.S. 662 (2010) · Cited 1,358 times

Holding

Imposing class arbitration on parties who have not agreed to authorize class arbitration is inconsistent with the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA),9U.

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 5–3.

“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.

• Green Tree Financial Corp. v. Bazzle · 539 U.S. 444 (2003)
• Volt Info. Sciences, Inc. v. Bd. of Trustees of Leland Stanford Jr. U. · 489 U.S. 468 (1989)
• Mitsubishi Motors Corp. v. Soler Chrysler-Plymouth, Inc. · 473 U.S. 614 (1985)
• Hall Street Associates, L. L. C. v. Mattel, Inc. · 552 U.S. 576 (2008)
• United Paperworkers International Union v. Misco, Inc. · 484 U.S. 29 (1987)
• United States v. Morrison · 529 U.S. 598 (2000)
• Mastrobuono v. Shearson Lehman Hutton, Inc. · 514 U.S. 52 (1995)
• First Options of Chicago, Inc. v. Kaplan · 514 U.S. 938 (1995)
• Howsam v. Dean Witter Reynolds, Inc. · 537 U.S. 79 (2002)
• Major League Baseball Players Assn. v. Garvey · 532 U.S. 504 (2001)
• At&T Technologies, Inc. v. Communications Workers · 475 U.S. 643 (1986)
• Alexander v. Gardner-Denver Co. · 415 U.S. 36 (1974)
• Equal Employment Opportunity Commission v. Waffle House, Inc. · 534 U.S. 279 (2002)
• Burchell v. Marsh · 58 U.S. 344 (1855)
• Moses H. Cone Memorial Hospital v. Mercury Construction Corp. · 460 U.S. 1 (1983)
• United Steelworkers v. Warrior & Gulf Navigation Co. · 363 U.S. 574 (1960)
• Amchem Products, Inc. v. Windsor · 521 U.S. 591 (1997)
• United Steelworkers v. Enterprise Wheel & Car Corp. · 363 U.S. 593 (1960)
• Coopers & Lybrand v. Livesay · 437 U.S. 463 (1978)
• Catlin v. United States · 324 U.S. 229 (1945)
• Gilmer v. Interstate/Johnson Lane Corp. · 500 U.S. 20 (1991)
• John Wiley & Sons, Inc. v. Livingston · 376 U.S. 543 (1964)
• Doctor's Associates, Inc. v. Casarotto · 517 U.S. 681 (1996)
• Scherk v. Alberto-Culver Co. · 417 U.S. 506 (1974)
• Swint v. Chambers County Commission · 514 U.S. 35 (1995)
• Regional Rail Reorganization Act Cases · 419 U.S. 102 (1974)
• Wilko v. Swan · 346 U.S. 427 (1953)
• Circuit City Stores, Inc. v. Adams · 532 U.S. 105 (2001)
• United States v. Detroit Timber & Lumber Co. · 200 U.S. 321 (1906)
• Perry v. Thomas · 482 U.S. 483 (1987)

Cited by

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

• Lamps Plus, Inc. v. Varela · 587 U.S. 176 (2019)
• Viking River Cruises, Inc. v. Moriana · 596 U.S. 639 (2022)
• Oxford Health Plans LLC v. Sutter · 569 U.S. 564 (2013)
• BG Group, PLC v. Republic of Argentina · 572 U.S. 25 (2014)
• American Express Co. v. Italian Colors Restaurant · 570 U.S. 228 (2013)
• CITGO Asphalt Refining Co. v. Frescati Shipping Co. · 589 U.S. 348 (2020)
• Department of Transportation v. Association of American Railroads · 575 U.S. 43 (2015)
• ZF Automotive U. S., Inc. v. Luxshare, Ltd. · 596 U.S. 619 (2022)
• Epic Systems Corp. v. Lewis · 584 U.S. 497 (2018)
• Stanley v. City of Sanford · 606 U.S. 46 (2025)

Official text

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

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Source: Supreme Court of the United States, slip opinions (2010). Citation count from the Free Law Project’s CourtListener bulk data. Data last verified 2026-08-15. Informational only; verify against the primary source before relying. Not a consumer report (FCRA).