Douglas Oil Company of California v. Petrol Stops Northwest

441 U.S. 211 · Decided April 18, 1979 · Supreme Court of the United States

At a glance

Douglas Oil Company of California v. Petrol Stops Northwest was decided on April 18, 1979 by a vote of 6–3. The Court reversed the lower court's decision and remanded the case. Justice Lewis F. Powell Jr. wrote the opinion of the Court. SCDB classifies its main issue as “Discovery and inspection in criminal cases” in the Criminal Procedure area.

Read the opinion

• CourtListener (Free Law Project) — opinion text
• Library of Congress — official U.S. Reports scan

Case details

How the Justices voted

Full case caption

Douglas Oil Company of California et al. v. Petrol Stops Northwest et al.

SCDB identifiers: case 1978-077, docket 1978-077-01.

Related decisions

Other cases on “Discovery and inspection in criminal cases”

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Cases on the same legal provision: Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure

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  422 U.S. 35Decided June 17, 19759–0Warren E. Burger
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  463 U.S. 476Decided June 30, 19838–1William J. Brennan Jr.
• Taylor v. United States
  414 U.S. 17Decided November 5, 19739–0Per curiam

Same Term, same area (Criminal Procedure)

• Presnell v. Georgia
  439 U.S. 14Decided November 6, 19786–3Per curiam
• Rakas v. Illinois
  439 U.S. 128Decided December 5, 19785–4William H. Rehnquist
• Corbitt v. New Jersey
  439 U.S. 212Decided December 11, 19786–3Byron R. White
• Massachusetts v. White
  439 U.S. 280Decided December 11, 19784–4
• Michigan v. Doran
  439 U.S. 282Decided December 18, 19789–0Warren E. Burger
• Lee v. Missouri
  439 U.S. 461Decided January 15, 19798–1Per curiam

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Source: Supreme Court Database, 2026 Release 01 (data file dated September 8, 2026). Imported into CaseTrail November 5, 2026. Coverage: decisions from the 1946 through 2025 Terms. Methodology · Report an error