Barrentine v. Arkansas-Best Freight System, Inc.

450 U.S. 728 · Decided April 6, 1981 · Supreme Court of the United States

At a glance

Barrentine v. Arkansas-Best Freight System, Inc. was decided on April 6, 1981 by a vote of 7–2. The Court reversed the lower court's decision. Justice William J. Brennan Jr. wrote the opinion of the Court. SCDB classifies its main issue as “Arbitration in labor-management disputes” in the Unions area.

Read the opinion

• CourtListener (Free Law Project) — opinion text
• Library of Congress — official U.S. Reports scan

Case details

How the Justices voted

Full case caption

Barrentine et al. v. Arkansas-Best Freight System, Inc., et al.

SCDB identifiers: case 1980-066, docket 1980-066-01.

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Cases on the same legal provision: Fair Labor Standards Act

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Same Term, same area (Unions)

• United Parcel Service, Inc. v. Mitchell
  451 U.S. 56Decided April 20, 19819–0William H. Rehnquist
• Complete Auto Transit, Inc. v. Reis
  451 U.S. 401Decided May 4, 19817–2William J. Brennan Jr.
• Clayton v. International Union
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• H. A. Artists & Associates, Inc. v. Actors' Equity Assn.
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• American Textile Manufacturers Institute, Inc. v. Donovan
  452 U.S. 490Decided June 17, 19815–3William J. Brennan Jr.
• First National Maintenance Corp. v. National Labor Relations Board
  452 U.S. 666Decided June 22, 19817–2Harry A. Blackmun

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Source: Supreme Court Database, 2026 Release 01 (data file dated September 8, 2026). Imported into CaseTrail November 5, 2026. Coverage: decisions from the 1946 through 2025 Terms. Methodology · Report an error