J. W. Bateson Co., Inc. v. United States ex Rel. Board of Trustees of the National Automatic Sprinkler Industry Pension Fund

434 U.S. 586 · Decided February 22, 1978 · Supreme Court of the United States

At a glance

J. W. Bateson Co., Inc. v. United States ex Rel. Board of Trustees of the National Automatic Sprinkler Industry Pension Fund was decided on February 22, 1978 by a vote of 6–2. The Court reversed the lower court's decision. Justice Thurgood Marshall wrote the opinion of the Court. SCDB classifies its main issue as “Liability, miscellaneous” in the Economic Activity area.

Read the opinion

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

Case details

How the Justices voted

Did not participate: Harry A. Blackmun.

Full case caption

J. W. Bateson Co., Inc., et al. v. United States ex Rel. Board of Trustees of the National Automatic Sprinkler Industry Pension Fund et al.

SCDB identifiers: case 1977-039, docket 1977-039-01.

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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