Hitt v. Connell’s Empirical Analysis
301 F.3d 240 · 2002
Citation profile
15 federal appellate · 1 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 67 later decisions — most recently January 2022 · most notably Brown v. City of Houston (2003), Smith v. Bray (2012)
15 federal appellate · 1 state decisions
Later decisions citing this case, by decade. The current decade is in progress, and our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so the latest bars are undercounted — not a real decline.
Relationships
Applies 42 U.S.C. § 1983 (Civil Rights Act of 1871 / Section 1983 (Ku Klux Klan Act)) · 42 U.S.C. § 1988
Relies on Mt. Healthy City School District Board of Education v. Doyle · Delaware State College v. Ricks · University of Tennessee v. Elliott · Astoria Federal Savings & Loan Ass'n v. Solimino · Long v. Eastfield College
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 67 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“'rubber-stamp[ing] the recommendation of a subordinate.'”
4 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“[H]urt feelings, anger, and frustration are part of life and are not the types of emotional harm that could support an award of damages. The plaintiff must instead present specific evidence of emotional damage: there must be a specific discernable injury to the claimant’s emotional state, proven with evidence regarding the nature and extent of the harm. To meet this burden, a plaintiff is not absolutely required to submit corroborating testimony (from a spouse or family member, for example) or medical or psychological evidence. The plaintiffs own testimony, standing alone, may be sufficient to prove mental damages but only if the testimony is particularized and extensive enough to meet the specificity requirement discussed above.”
2 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“Under its governing rules, the commission is authorized to review and approve, reverse or modify an adverse employment decision if an employee elects to appeal it. But the mere authority to review an employment decision is not decisive. The commission became involved as an adjudicative tribunal after Hitt chose to appeal his notice of termination. Its task was to review Constable Connell's decision for conformity with applicable law and regulations, not to initiate Connell's action or generally superintend Connell's employment practices.”
2 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority
How this case has been treated — in progress
Whether each later court followed, distinguished, criticized, or overruled this decision. The treatment classification (task #35) runs highest-cited cases first and lights up here as it reaches this one.