Firestone Tire and Rubber Company v. Bruch’s Empirical Analysis
1989
Citation profile
4,212 federal appellate · 2,042 district · 231 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 14,418 later decisions (38 by the Supreme Court) — most recently June 2025 · most notably Varity Corporation v. Howe (1996), Mertens v. Hewitt Associates (1993)
4,212 federal appellate · 2,042 district · 231 state decisions — followed in 37 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
reviewedBruch v. Firestone Tire & Rubber Co. (from Third Circuit Court of Appeals)
Relationships
Applies 29 U.S.C. § 1001 (§ 2 of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974) · 29 U.S.C. § 1002 (§ 3 of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974) · 29 U.S.C. § 1024 (§ 104 of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974) · 29 U.S.C. § 1132 (§ 502 of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974) · 29 U.S.C. § 186 (§ 302 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 · Shaw v. Delta Air Lines, Inc. · Pilot Life Insurance v. Dedeaux · Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance v. Russell
Cited together with Pilot Life Insurance v. Dedeaux · Celotex Corporation v. Catrett H · Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance v. Russell · Shaw v. Delta Air Lines, Inc. · Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc.
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 14,418 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“unless the benefit plan gives the administrator or fiduciary discretionary authority to determine eligibility for benefits or to construe the terms of the plan.”
510 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“have ... a reasonable expectation of returning to covered employment”
76 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“determined by the provisions of the instrument as interpreted in light of all the circumstances and such other evidence of the intention of the settlor with respect to the trust as is not inadmissible.”
66 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority
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.