Caterpillar Inc. v. Williams’s Empirical Analysis
1987
Citation profile
1,762 federal appellate · 1,219 district · 299 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 7,678 later decisions (33 by the Supreme Court) — most recently August 2025 · most notably Christianson v. Colt Industries Operating Corp. (1988), Lingle v. Norge Division of Magic Chef, Inc. (1988)
1,762 federal appellate · 1,219 district · 299 state decisions — followed in 30 states
Later decisions citing this case, by decade. The current decade is in progress, and our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so the latest bars are undercounted — not a real decline.
Appellate journey
reviewedCecil Williams v. Caterpillar Tractor Company (from Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals)
Relationships
Applies 28 U.S.C. § 1331 · 28 U.S.C. § 1441 · 29 U.S.C. § 159 (§ 9 of the National Labor Relations Act) · 29 U.S.C. § 185 (§ 301 of the Labor Management Relations Act of 1947 (Taft-Hartley Act))
Relies on Franchise Tax Board of the State of California v. Construction Laborers Vacation Trust for Southern California · San Diego Building Trades Council v. Garmon · Metropolitan Life Insurance v. Taylor · Gully v. First Nat. Bank in Meridian
Cited together with Franchise Tax Board of the State of California v. Construction Laborers Vacation Trust for Southern California · Metropolitan Life Insurance v. Taylor · Allis-Chalmers Corp. v. Lueck · Lingle v. Norge Division of Magic Chef, Inc. · Avco Corporation v. Aero Lodge No 735 International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers
Most-quoted passages
The sentences later courts lift from this opinion, ranked by how many decisions quote each — the parts of the opinion doing the work. These counts are smaller than the citation total above because most of the 7,678 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“Suits for violation of contracts between an employer and a labor organization representing employees in an industry affecting commerce as defined in this chapter, or between any such labor organizations, may be brought in any district court of the United States having jurisdiction of the parties, without respect to the amount in controversy or without regard to the citizenship of the parties.”
531 later decisions quote this exact passage“all civil actions arising under the Constitution, laws, or treaties of the United States.”
98 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“well-pleaded complaint rule,'' under which”
28 later decisions quote this exact passage
How this case has been treated — in progress
Whether each later court followed, distinguished, criticized, or overruled this decision. The treatment classification (task #35) runs highest-cited cases first and lights up here as it reaches this one.