Taggart v. Lorenzen

Decided June 3, 2019. Stephen Gerald Breyer delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 18-489 · 587 U.S. 554 (2019) · Cited 478 times

Holding

A creditor may be held in civil contempt for violating a bankruptcy court’s discharge order if there is no fair ground of doubt as to whether the order barred the creditor’s conduct.

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. 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.

• McComb v. Jacksonville Paper Co. · 336 U.S. 187 (1949)
• International Longshoremen's Ass'n, Local 1291 v. Philadelphia Marine Trade Ass'n · 389 U.S. 64 (1967)
• California Artificial Stone Paving Co. v. Molitor · 113 U.S. 609 (1885)
• Chambers v. Nasco, Inc. · 501 U.S. 32 (1991)
• United States v. United Mine Workers of America · 330 U.S. 258 (1947)
• Field v. Mans · 516 U.S. 59 (1995)
• Safeco Insurance Co. of America v. Burr · 551 U.S. 47 (2007)
• Katchen v. Landy · 382 U.S. 323 (1966)
• Young v. United States Ex Rel. Vuitton Et Fils S. A. · 481 U.S. 787 (1987)
• Bryan v. United States · 524 U.S. 184 (1998)
• Schmidt v. Lessard · 414 U.S. 473 (1974)
• Hall v. Hall · 584 U.S. 59 (2018)

Cited by

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

• Liu v. SEC. & Exch. Comm'n · 591 U.S. 71 (2020)
• Harrington v. Purdue Pharma L.P. · 603 U.S. 204 (2024)
• Waetzig v. Halliburton Energy Services, Inc. · 604 U.S. 305 (2025)

Official text

Read the official opinion (PDF, supremecourt.gov)

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Stephen Gerald Breyer’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 2026-08-15. Informational only; verify against the primary source before relying. Not a consumer report (FCRA).