Waterman v. Batton’s Empirical Analysis
393 F.3d 471 · 2005
Citation profile
38 federal appellate · 13 district · 1 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 116 later decisions — most recently April 2025 · most notably Henry v. Purnell (2011), Lytle v. Bexar County (2009)
38 federal appellate · 13 district · 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
Relies on Harlow v. Fitzgerald · Anderson v. Creighton · Graham v. Connor · Malley v. Briggs · Duncan v. Walker
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 116 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“[w]here the officer has probable cause to believe that the suspect poses a threat of serious physical harm, either to the officer or to others.”
4 later decisions quote this exact passagee.g. Harris v. Pittman · Sharon Carr, Individually and as Administratrix of the Estate of Joshua Morgan, Deceased v. V. S. Deeds, Individually and as an Agent of the State of West Virginia Howard E. Hill, Jr., as Superintendent of the West Virginia State Police, in His Official Capacity State of West Virginia, and T.D. Bradley, Individually and as an Agent of the State of West Virginia, Sharon Carr, Individually and as Administratrix of the Estate of Joshua Morgan, and Joshua Morgan, Deceased v. T.D. Bradley, Individually and as an Agent of the State of West Virginia Howard E. Hill, Jr., as Superintendent of the West Virginia State Police, in His Official Capacity State of West Virginia“[T]he intrusiveness of a seizure by means of deadly force is unmatched.”
4 later decisions quote this exact passagee.g. Harris v. Pittman · Sharon Carr, Individually and as Administratrix of the Estate of Joshua Morgan, Deceased v. V. S. Deeds, Individually and as an Agent of the State of West Virginia Howard E. Hill, Jr., as Superintendent of the West Virginia State Police, in His Official Capacity State of West Virginia, and T.D. Bradley, Individually and as an Agent of the State of West Virginia, Sharon Carr, Individually and as Administratrix of the Estate of Joshua Morgan, and Joshua Morgan, Deceased v. T.D. Bradley, Individually and as an Agent of the State of West Virginia Howard E. Hill, Jr., as Superintendent of the West Virginia State Police, in His Official Capacity State of West Virginia“Because `police officers are often forced to make split-second judgments—in circumstances that are tense, uncertain, and rapidly evolving,' the facts must be evaluated from the perspective of a reasonable officer on the scene, and the use of hindsight must be avoided.”
3 later decisions quote this exact passagee.g. Sharon Carr, Individually and as Administratrix of the Estate of Joshua Morgan, Deceased v. V. S. Deeds, Individually and as an Agent of the State of West Virginia Howard E. Hill, Jr., as Superintendent of the West Virginia State Police, in His Official Capacity State of West Virginia, and T.D. Bradley, Individually and as an Agent of the State of West Virginia, Sharon Carr, Individually and as Administratrix of the Estate of Joshua Morgan, and Joshua Morgan, Deceased v. T.D. Bradley, Individually and as an Agent of the State of West Virginia Howard E. Hill, Jr., as Superintendent of the West Virginia State Police, in His Official Capacity State of West Virginia · Carr v. Deeds
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.