Dedmon v. Staley’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

12 federal appellate · 1 district ·

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

1. “an employer cannot shield itself from liability for unlawful termination by using a purportedly independent person or committee as the decisionmaker where the decisionmaker merely serves as the conduit, vehicle, or rubber stamp by which another achieves his or her unlawful design.”

   2 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Goodman v. Performance Contractors, Inc. · Richardson v. Sugg

2. “This circuit’s “cat’s paw” rule provides that “an employer cannot shield itself from liability for unlawful termination by using a purportedly independent person or committee as the decisionmaker where the decision maker merely serves as the conduit, vehicle, or rubber stamp by which another achieves his or her unlawful design.” Dedmon v. Staley, 315 F.3d 948 , 949 n. 2 (8th Cir.2003). Where a decisionmaker makes an independent determination as to whether an employee should be terminated and does not serve as a mere conduit for another’s discriminatory motives, the “cat’s paw” theory fails.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. 604 F. Supp. 2d 1230 - Dock v. Des Moines Independent Community School District

3. “can be liable, under certain circumstances, where the formal decisionmaker is not the person who harbored an unlawful motive to terminate the employee.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Goodman v. Performance Contractors, Inc.