Unum Life Insurance Company of America v. John E. Ward

526 U.S. 358 · Decided April 20, 1999 · Supreme Court of the United States

At a glance

Unum Life Insurance Company of America v. John E. Ward was decided on April 20, 1999 unanimously (9–0). The Court affirmed the lower court's decision in part, reversed or vacated it in part, and remanded the case. Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg wrote the opinion of the Court. SCDB classifies its main issue as “Employee Retirement Income Security Act” in the Economic Activity 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

Unum Life Insurance Company of America v. John E. Ward

SCDB identifiers: case 1998-046, docket 1998-046-01.

Related decisions

Other cases on “Employee Retirement Income Security Act”

• Hughes Aircraft Company v. Stanley I. Jacobson
  525 U.S. 432Decided January 25, 19999–0Clarence Thomas
• Bonnie L. Geissal v. Moore Medical Corporation
  524 U.S. 74Decided June 8, 19989–0David H. Souter
• Lori Pegram v. Cynthia Herdrich
  530 U.S. 211Decided June 12, 20009–0David H. Souter
• Harris Trust and Savings Bank, Etc. v. Salomon Smith Barney Inc.
  530 U.S. 238Decided June 12, 20009–0Clarence Thomas
• Bay Area Laundry and Dry Cleaning Pension Trust Fund v. Ferbar Corporation of California, Inc.
  522 U.S. 192Decided December 15, 19979–0Ruth Bader Ginsburg
• Inter-Modal Rail Employees Association v. Atchison
  520 U.S. 510Decided May 12, 19979–0Sandra Day O'Connor

See all

Cases on the same legal provision: Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA)

• Barbara A. de Buono v. Nysa-Ila Medical and Clinical Services Fund, Etc.
  520 U.S. 806Decided June 2, 19977–2John Paul Stevens
• Sandra Jean Dale Boggs v. Thomas F. Boggs
  520 U.S. 833Decided June 2, 19975–4Anthony M. Kennedy
• Donna Rae Egelhoff v. Samantha Egelhoff
  532 U.S. 141Decided March 21, 20017–2Clarence Thomas
• California Division of Labor Standards Enforcement v. Dillingham Construction, N. A., Inc.
  519 U.S. 316Decided February 18, 19979–0Clarence Thomas
• Rush Prudential HMO, Inc. v. Debra C. Moran
  536 U.S. 355Decided June 20, 20025–4David H. Souter
• Kentucky Association of Health Plans, Inc. v. Janie A. Miller
  538 U.S. 329Decided April 2, 20039–0Antonin Scalia

Same Term, same area (Economic Activity)

• Wayne K. Pfaff v. Wells Electronics, Inc.
  525 U.S. 55Decided November 10, 19989–0John Paul Stevens
• Nynex Corporation v. Discon
  525 U.S. 128Decided December 14, 19989–0Stephen G. Breyer
• El Al Israel Airlines, Ltd. v. Tsui Yuan Tseng
  525 U.S. 155Decided January 12, 19998–1Sandra Day O'Connor
• Jane M. Roberts v. Galen of Virginia, Inc.
  525 U.S. 249Decided January 13, 19999–0Per curiam
• Department of the Army v. Blue Fox, Inc.
  525 U.S. 255Decided January 20, 19999–0William H. Rehnquist
• AT&T Corporation v. Iowa Utilities Board
  525 U.S. 366Decided January 25, 19997–1Antonin Scalia

See all

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