Taylor v. Sturgell
Supreme Court of the United States
Argued April 16, 2008 Decided June 12, 2008
Full case name	Brent Taylor, Petitioner v. Robert A. Sturgell, Acting Administrator, Federal Aviation Administration, et al.
Docket no.	07-371
Citations	553 U.S. 880 (more) 128 S. Ct. 2161; 171 L. Ed. 2d 155
Court membership
Chief Justice John Roberts Associate Justices John P. Stevens · Antonin Scalia Anthony Kennedy · David Souter Clarence Thomas · Ruth Bader Ginsburg Stephen Breyer · Samuel Alito
Case opinion
Majority	Ginsburg, joined by unanimous

Taylor v. Sturgell, 553 U.S. 880 (2008), was a United States Supreme Court case involving res judicata. It held that a "virtually represented" non-party cannot be bound by a judgment.^[1]

Background

Greg Herrick was seeking to restore a vintage 1930s airplane. He filed an FOIA request for technical documents with the Federal Aviation Administration. The FAA found that the documents were trade secrets and denied his request, and the district court and the appellate court denied his appeal.^[2]

Later, Brent Taylor, a friend of Herrick with no participation in the previous case, filed an FOIA request for the same documents through the same lawyer. He was denied, and in his appeal he sought to fix certain omissions and mistakes in Herrick's briefs. The district and appellate courts held that Taylor was precluded from litigating the issue because he had been "virtually represented" in the prior case.^[3]

Opinion of the Court

Associate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg wrote the opinion for a unanimous court, overturning the decision below by the D.C. Circuit.^[3]