United Airlines, Inc. v. McDonald

Decided June 20, 1977. Potter Stewart delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 76-545 · 432 U.S. 385 (1977) · Cited 526 times

Holding

Respondent's motion to intervene was "timely" filed under Fed.Rule Civ.Proc.

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.

• American Pipe & Construction Co. v. Utah · 414 U.S. 538 (1974)
• Albemarle Paper Co. v. Moody · 422 U.S. 405 (1975)
• Franks v. Bowman Transportation Co. · 424 U.S. 747 (1976)
• National Ass'n for the Advancement of Colored People v. New York · 413 U.S. 345 (1973)
• Sosna v. Iowa · 419 U.S. 393 (1975)
• Burnett v. New York Central Railroad · 380 U.S. 424 (1965)
• Wood v. Carpenter · 101 U.S. 135 (1879)
• Guaranty Trust Co. v. United States · 304 U.S. 126 (1938)

Cited by

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

• United States Parole Commission v. Geraghty · 445 U.S. 388 (1980)
• Deposit Guaranty National Bank v. Roper · 445 U.S. 326 (1980)
• Cameron v. EMW Women's Surgical Center, P. S. C. · 595 U.S. 267 (2022)
• Crown, Cork & Seal Co. v. Parker · 462 U.S. 345 (1983)
• Microsoft Corp. v. Baker · 582 U.S. 23 (2017)
• Smith v. Bayer Corp. · 564 U.S. 299 (2011)
• Coopers & Lybrand v. Livesay · 437 U.S. 463 (1978)
• Zipes v. Trans World Airlines, Inc. · 455 U.S. 385 (1982)
• Dorszynski v. United States · 418 U.S. 424 (1974)
• Devlin v. Scardelletti · 536 U.S. 1 (2002)
• Gardner v. Westinghouse Broadcasting Co. · 437 U.S. 478 (1978)

Official text

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

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Source: Supreme Court of the United States, slip opinions (1977). 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).