United States Department of the Treasury and Mitchell a. Levine, Assistant Commissioner v. George Fabe, Superintendent of Insurance of Ohio

Decided June 11, 1993. Harry Andrew Blackmun delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 91-1513 · 508 U.S. 491 (1993) · Cited 425 times

Holding

The Ohio priority statute escapes federal pre-emption to the extent that it protects policyholders, but it is not a law enacted for the purpose of regulating the business of insurance to the extent that it is designed to further the interests of creditors other than policyholders.

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 5–4.

“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.

• Union Labor Life Insurance v. Pireno · 458 U.S. 119 (1982)
• Securities & Exchange Commission v. National Securities, Inc. · 393 U.S. 453 (1969)
• Group Life & Health Insurance v. Royal Drug Co. · 440 U.S. 205 (1979)
• Prudential Insurance v. Benjamin · 328 U.S. 408 (1946)
• Pilot Life Insurance v. Dedeaux · 481 U.S. 41 (1987)
• Florida Lime & Avocado Growers, Inc. v. Paul · 373 U.S. 132 (1963)
• Metropolitan Life Insurance v. Massachusetts · 471 U.S. 724 (1985)
• United States v. Menasche · 348 U.S. 528 (1955)
• United States v. South-Eastern Underwriters Assn. · 322 U.S. 533 (1944)
• Paul v. Virginia · 75 U.S. 168 (1869)
• Moskal v. United States · 498 U.S. 103 (1990)
• Atlantic Cleaners & Dyers, Inc. v. United States · 286 U.S. 427 (1932)
• Montclair v. Ramsdell · 107 U.S. 147 (1883)
• Stanton v. Stanton · 421 U.S. 7 (1975)
• Sullivan v. Stroop · 496 U.S. 478 (1990)
• St. Paul Fire & Marine Insurance v. Barry · 438 U.S. 531 (1978)
• Securities & Exchange Commission v. Variable Annuity Life Insurance · 359 U.S. 65 (1959)

Cited by

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

• Barnett Bank of Marion County, N. A. v. Nelson · 517 U.S. 25 (1996)
• American Ins. Assn. v. Garamendi · 539 U.S. 396 (2003)
• Humana Inc. v. Forsyth · 525 U.S. 299 (1999)

Official text

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

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Source: Supreme Court of the United States, slip opinions (1993). 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).