Case Citator › Louisville & Nashville Railroad v. Mottley

Louisville & Nashville Railroad v. Mottley

Is it still good law? What later courts have actually done to this case.

Good law
Court
Supreme Court of the United States
Citation
211 U.S. 149
Decided
Confirmed treatments
0
Flagged citations read
76 of 76
Citing cases (total)
76

Status

Good law
Every flagged citation to this case has been read, and none of them overrules, limits, or questions it. All 76 flagged citations have been read. Louisville & Nashville Railroad v. Mottley remains good law on the rule that an anticipated federal defense does not create federal-question jurisdiction.
More on how this was screened

Later courts continued to apply that rule, including in complete preemption and declaratory judgment cases; none confirmed adverse treatment. Several opinions describe Mottley as overruled on other grounds by Smith v. Kansas City Title & Trust Co., but Smith permits jurisdiction when a federal question is essential to the plaintiff's pleaded claim and does not displace Mottley's defense rule.

Every treatment on this page is written from the citing opinion itself, with a verbatim quote, never copied from a commercial citator. A citation flagged by our screen but not shown here was read and found not to weaken this case.

76 later cases cite Louisville & Nashville Railroad v. Mottley; 76 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 Louisville & Nashville Railroad v. Mottley?

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.

No reviewed court has overruled or limited this case.

Every one of the 76 flagged citations was read, and each turned out to be something other than adverse treatment: a routine application, a party's argument the court rejected, or the case itself discussing older law. That reading is the finding this page exists to report.

Does this case still carry your argument?

Describe your facts. Ezel reads Louisville & Nashville Railroad v. Mottley and the cases that treated it, then tells you whether it still holds for your situation, with citations.

Opens in Ezel Pro.

  • Checks the law as it stands today, not only this page
  • Cites every source it relies on, so you can verify it
  • Chat, drafting and research in one workspace