Bell v. Schexnayder’s Empirical Analysis
36 F.3d 447 · 1994
Citation profile
11 federal appellate · 1 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 27 later decisions — most recently April 2020 · most notably Smyth ex rel. Smyth v. Rivero (2002), RE/MAX International, Inc. v. Realty One, Inc. (2001)
11 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. § 1988
Relies on Hensley v. Eckerhart · Kokkonen v. Guardian Life Insurance Co. of America · Ohio Bureau of Employment Services v. Hodory · Smith v. Robinson · Aro Corp. v. Allied Witan Co.
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 27 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“To the extent that plaintiffs counsel harbored a secret intent to seek attorney’s fees —after the parties had agreed on a settlement amount, after the case had been removed from the docket, and after the District Court had entered a dismissal order — that intent was concealed from defendants. On this record, the District Court could conclude that plaintiffs’ counsel knew that his request for attorneys’ fees ... was totally unanticipated by defendants and came as a complete shock to them. The District Court acted properly in denying the fee request. Holding otherwise would run counter to three goals encouraged by our judicial system: voluntary settlements of disputes, the enforcement of agreements according to the objective intent of the parties, and an end to litigation.”
1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority“... [A] district court has inherent power to recognize, encourage, and when necessary enforce settlement agreements reached by the parties, (citation omitted) “Where a party has knowingly and voluntarily agreed to settle his claims and no change of circumstances warrants repudiation of the agreement, the courts will enforce the settlement agreement.” (citation omitted). “It is well established that courts retain the inherent power to enforce agreements entered into in settlement of litigation pending before them.” (citation omitted). “Federal courts have held under a great variety of circumstances that a settlement agreement once entered into cannot be repudiated by either party and will be summarily enforced.... ” (emphasis added).”
1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority“without prejudice to the right, upon good cause shown within sixty (60) days, to reopen it if settlement is not consummated and seek summary judgment and enforcing the compromise.”
1 later decision 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.