United States v. Stauffer Chemical Co.

Decided January 10, 1984. William Hubbs Rehnquist delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 82-1448 · 464 U.S. 165 (1984) · Cited 321 times

Holding

The doctrine of mutual defensive collateral estoppel is applicable against the Government to preclude relitigation of the same issue already litigated against the same party in another case involving virtually identical facts.

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. 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.

• Montana v. United States · 440 U.S. 147 (1979)
• United States v. Moser · 266 U.S. 236 (1924)
• Commissioner v. Sunnen · 333 U.S. 591 (1948)
• Allen v. McCurry · 449 U.S. 90 (1980)
• United States v. Stone & Downer Co. · 274 U.S. 225 (1927)
• Parklane Hosiery Co. v. Shore · 439 U.S. 322 (1979)
• Standefer v. United States · 447 U.S. 10 (1980)

Cited by

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

• B&B Hardware, Inc. v. Hargis Industries, Inc. · 575 U.S. 138 (2015)

Official text

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

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Source: Supreme Court of the United States, slip opinions (1984). 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).