Larson v. Domestic and Foreign Commerce Corp.
Is it still good law? What later courts have actually done to this case.
Status
More on how this was screened
Pennhurst State School and Hospital v. Halderman questioned Larson's ultra vires doctrine in the Eleventh Amendment context, and two later district courts questioned the doctrine's continued force after the APA amendment. The remaining opinions applied Larson, reported Larson's treatment of older cases, repeated other courts' treatment as history, or directed nearby adverse language at unrelated authorities. CourtListener lists Sea-Land Service, Inc. v. Brown more than once; each copy was read, but they produce one treatment.
1,701 later cases cite Larson v. Domestic and Foreign Commerce Corp.; 79 of those citations sat close to treatment language and were flagged for reading, and all of them have been read. Citations that did not sit near treatment language were not flagged and were not read one by one, so a court that weakened this case without using any of that language would not appear here.
Relying on Larson v. Domestic and Foreign Commerce Corp.?
This page shows what later courts did to it. Ask about your specific facts and see whether it still carries your argument, with citations you can check.
Treatments
Superseded by Statute
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The Third Circuit held that the 1976 amendment to APA § 702 effectively repealed Larson's sovereign-immunity bar to specific enforcement against a federal officer, subject to statutes that separately forbid the requested relief.
Sea-Land Service, Inc. v. Brown · Third Circuit · filed
The amendment2 in effect repealed the Larson holding but with the limitation that the revisions do not confer “authority to grant relief if any other statute that grants consent to suit expressly or impliedly forbids the relief which is sought.” Id.
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The Supreme Court held that the Quiet Title Act displaced Larson officer suits as a means to challenge the United States' title to real property.
Block v. North Dakota ex rel. Board of University & School Lands · Supreme Court of the United States · filed
Accordingly, we need not reach the question whether, prior to 1972, Larson v. Domestic & Foreign Corp., 337 *286U. S. 682 (1949), and Malone v. Bowdoin, 369 U. S. 643 (1962), would have permitted an officer’s suit to be maintained under the present circumstances.22 We hold that Congress intended the QTA to provide the exclusive means by which adverse claimants could challenge the United States’ title to real property.23
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The Ninth Circuit held that the 1976 amendment to APA § 702 superseded Larson's officer-suit exceptions where the amendment's waiver applies, while preserving the exceptions outside the waiver's scope.
E.V. v. Robinson · Ninth Circuit · filed
We conclude that the 1976 amendment superseded the Larson exceptions only for suits in which the amendment’s waiver provision applies, but did not abrogate the exceptions where the waiver does not apply.
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Questioned
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The Supreme Court questioned the continued vitality of Larson's ultra vires doctrine in the Eleventh Amendment context and held that any surviving exception is very narrow.
Pennhurst State School and Hospital v. Halderman · Supreme Court of the United States · filed
For present purposes, however, we do no more than question the continued vitality of the ultra vires doctrine in the Eleventh Amendment context. We hold only that to the extent the doctrine is consistent with the analysis of this opinion, it is a very narrow exception that will allow suit only under the standards set forth in n. 11, supra.
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The Southern District of Florida questioned the Larson-Dugan exception's continued vitality after the 1976 APA amendment, while applying it because the APA did not cover the federal court official before it.
Locke v. Warren · S.D. Fla. · filed
But the enactment of the Administrative Procedure Act (the “APA”) in 1976 has cast grave doubts on the continued vitality of the Larson-Dugan exception.
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The Eastern District of Texas questioned whether the APA amendment abrogated Larson's officer-suit doctrine, while holding that Larson did not support jurisdiction on the pleaded facts.
Burnett Specialists v. Abruzzo · E.D. Tex. · filed
And there is an open question on whether the APA abrogated the doctrine that Larson espoused.
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