292 Ga. App. 731 - Smith v. McDowell’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

6 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 8 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “abrogates the constitutional right of citizens to seek redress for injuries inflicted by the ministerial acts of school employees, especially upon young children who are not capable of caring for themselves or exercising judgment. If Georgia school employees are to be clothed with absolute immunity under any and all circumstances, that is a decision to be made by the Georgia General Assembly; it is not the function of this, or any, court.”

   2 later decisions quote this exact passage
   e.g. 328 Ga. App. 431 - BUTLER v. DOE Et Al. · 310 Ga. App. 428 - Cotton v. Smith

2. “application of that argument. . . requires the conclusion that a school employee is “gathering facts” even when following the simplest instructions!,] and that failure to follow such instructions constitutes “exercising judgment.” Under that view, any school employee who disobeys an explicit, unambiguous written policy would be exercising discretion in doing so. This stands the plain language of the law on its head. As the Supreme Court of New Hampshire observed, “it would be difficult to conceive of any official act, no matter how directly ministerial, that did not admit of some discretion in the manner of its performance, even if it involved only the driving of a nail.”[ 6 ]”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. 310 Ga. App. 428 - Cotton v. Smith

3. “hard and fast [policies] with no exceptions, [policies] which explicitly allowed for no discretion. [Ms. McDowell] repeatedly and positively testified that she had no discretion. The child was not to be released without consulting the card. [Ms. McDowell] released the child without consulting the card. If the parent sent a fax request for release, [Ms. McDowell] was instructed to consult an administrator. She did not.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. McDowell v. Smith