Danette Hope Gros’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

1 district · 2 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 20 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “A policy or custom becomes official for purposes of § 1983 when it results from the decision or acquiescence of the municipal officer or body with 'final policymaking authority' over the subject matter of the offending policy.”

   2 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Malone v. City of Fort Worth · Besler v. BOARD OF EDUC. OF W. WINDSOR

2. “First, an official policy can be “a policy statement, ordinance, regulation, or decision that is officially adopted and promulgated by the municipality’s lawmaking officers or by an official to whom the lawmakers have delegated policy-making authority.” Colle v. Brazos Cty., 981 F.2d 237 , 244-45 (5th Cir. 1993). Second, an official policy could also be “a persistent, widespread practice of city officials or employees, which, although not authorized by officially adopted and promulgated policy, is so common and well settled as to constitute a custom that fairly represents municipal policy.” Johnson, 379 F.3d at 309 . [But] the mere fact that harm resulted from some interaction with a governmental entity does not permit the inference of an official policy under § 1983. See Colle, 981 F.2d at 245. Instead, to survive a motion [for judgment on the pleadings under Rule 12(c)], the plaintiff must specifically identify each policy which allegedly caused the constitutional violations. See Piotrowski, 237 F.3d at 579-80 .”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the dissent
   e.g. Meyer v. Coffey