Diaz v. Martinez’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

26 federal appellate · 12 district · 3 state decisions

Most-quoted passages

The sentences later courts lift from this opinion, ranked by how many decisions quote each — the parts of the opinion doing the work. These counts are smaller than the citation total above because most of the 54 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “[W]e are left with Vázquez’s asseveration that the district court erred in denying his motion for summary judgment because, regardless of legal theory, the evidence was insufficient to establish deliberate indifference on his part, and, thus, he was entitled (at the least) to qualified immunity. But Judge Laffitte rejected this argument on the basis that the record contained controverted facts and that, if a factfinder were to resolve those disputes favorably to the plaintiffs, he could then find that Vázquez’s supervision of the disciplinary affairs bureau was so pathetic that his conduct constituted deliberate indifference to the plaintiffs’ rights. Since Vazquez does not argue that the facts asserted by the plaintiffs, even if altogether true, fail to show deliberate indifference — he argues instead what his counsel termed at oral argument “the absence of facts,” i.e., that the facts asserted by the plaintiffs are untrue, unproven, warrant a different spin, tell only a small part of the story, and are presented out of con text — the district court’s determination is not reviewable on an interlocutory appeal.”

   2 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Goguen v. Allen · Camilo-Robles v. Zapata

2. “Section 1983 provides for a private right of action against public officials who, under color of state law, deprive individuals of rights declared by the Constitution or laws of the United States. Nonetheless, a public official accused of civil rights violations is shielded from claims for damages under section 1983 as long as his conduct did not violate rights that were “clearly established” under the Constitution or under federal law. For purposes of this defense, a right is clearly established if the “contours of the right (are) sufficiently clear that a reasonable official would understand that what he is doing violates that right.” Anderson v. Creighton, 483 U.S. 635, 640 , 107 S.Ct. 3034, 3039 , 97 L.Ed.2d 523 (1987).”

   2 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Felton v. Lincoln · Luis Acevedo-Garcia et al. v. Roberto Vera-Monroig et al.

3. “If the pretrial rejection of the qualified immunity defense is based on a purely legal ground, such as a finding that the conduct described by the plaintiff, assuming it occurred, transgressed a clearly established right, then the denial may be challenged through an interlocutory appeal.”

   2 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Fletcher v. Town of Clinton · Luis Acevedo-Garcia et al. v. Roberto Vera-Monroig et al.