William Field and Norinne Field v. Philip W. Mans

Decided November 28, 1995. David Hackett Souter delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 94-967 · 516 U.S. 59 (1995) · Cited 1,626 times

Holding

The standard for excepting a debt from discharge as a fraudulent representation within the meaning of § 523(a)(2)(A) is not reasonable reliance but the less demanding one of justifiable reliance on the representation.

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 7–2.

“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.

• Nationwide Mutual Insurance v. Darden · 503 U.S. 318 (1992)
• Community for Creative Non-Violence v. Reid · 490 U.S. 730 (1989)
• Gozlon-Peretz v. United States · 498 U.S. 395 (1991)
• Russello v. United States · 464 U.S. 16 (1983)
• Alaska Airlines, Inc. v. Brock · 480 U.S. 678 (1987)
• National Labor Relations Board v. Amax Coal Co. · 453 U.S. 322 (1981)
• Durland v. United States · 161 U.S. 306 (1896)
• James-Dickinson Farm Mortgage Co. v. Harry · 273 U.S. 119 (1927)

Cited by

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

• Husky International Electronics, Inc. v. Ritz · 578 U.S. 355 (2016)
• Lamar, Archer & Cofrin, LLP v. Appling · 584 U.S. 709 (2018)
• Taggart v. Lorenzen · 587 U.S. 554 (2019)
• Mission Product Holdings, Inc. v. Tempnology, LLC · 587 U.S. 370 (2019)
• Bartenwerfer v. Buckley · 598 U.S. 69 (2023)
• Hamdan v. Rumsfeld · 548 U.S. 557 (2006)
• Neder v. United States · 527 U.S. 1 (1999)
• Lindh v. Murphy · 521 U.S. 320 (1997)
• Cohen v. De La Cruz · 523 U.S. 213 (1998)
• Bridge v. Phoenix Bond & Indemnity Co. · 553 U.S. 639 (2008)
• Olmstead v. L.C. · 527 U.S. 581 (1999)
• Archer v. Warner · 538 U.S. 314 (2003)

Official text

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

Explore from here

David Hackett Souter’s profile · All Supreme Court opinions · The Supreme Court

Source: Supreme Court of the United States, slip opinions (1995). 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).