| Black & White Taxicab Co. v. Brown & Yellow Taxicab Co. | ||||||
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Supreme Court of the United States |
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| Argued January 13–16, 1928 Decided April 9, 1928 |
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| Full case name | Black & White Taxicab & Transfer Company v. Brown & Yellow Taxicab & Transfer Company | |||||
| Citations | 276 U.S. 518 (more) 48 S.Ct. 404 |
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| Prior history | Judgment for plaintiff, W.D. Ky.; affirmed, 15 F.2d 509 (C.C.A. 6th 1926); cert. granted, 273 U.S. 690 (1927) | |||||
| Holding | ||||||
| In suit in federal court to restrain interference with railroad's contract granting exclusive privileges to plaintiff taxicab company in soliciting patronage at depot, federal courts are not bound by Kentucky decisions that such contracts are invalid, since, in determining questions of general law, federal courts are free to exercise their own independent judgment. Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed. | ||||||
| Court membership | ||||||
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| Case opinions | ||||||
| Majority | Butler, joined by Taft, Van Devanter, McReynolds, Sutherland, Sanford | |||||
| Dissent | Holmes, joined by Brandeis, Stone | |||||
Black & White Taxicab Co. v. Brown & Yellow Taxicab Co. , 276 U.S. 518 (1928), was a decision by the US Supreme Court in which the Court refused to hold that federal courts sitting in diversity jurisdiction must apply state common law. Ten years later, in Erie Railroad Co. v. Tompkins, the Court reversed course, and overturned Swift.
It is most famous for the dissent of Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr..