Bailey v. Mississippi’s Empirical Analysis
407 F.3d 684 · 2005
Citation profile
16 federal appellate · 1 state decisions
Relationships
Applies 16 U.S.C. § 470W · 42 U.S.C. § 12205 (§ 505 of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990) · 42 U.S.C. § 1983 (Civil Rights Act of 1871 / Section 1983 (Ku Klux Klan Act)) · 42 U.S.C. § 1988 · 42 U.S.C. § 3613 (§ 813 of the Fair Housing Act (Title VIII, Civil Rights Act of 1968))
Relies on Farrar v. Hobby · Buckhannon Board and Care Home Incs v. West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources · Maine v. Thiboutot · Smyth ex rel. Smyth v. Rivero · Truesdell v. Philadelphia Housing Authority
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 34 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“[W]hether a party is a prevailing party 'is a legal question subject to de novo review.”
3 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“[T]o qualify as a prevailing party, a civil rights plaintiff must obtain at least some relief on the merits of his claim. The plaintiff must obtain an enforceable judgment against the defendant from whom fees are sought, ... or comparable relief through a consent decree or settlement,.... Whatever relief the plaintiff secures must directly benefit him at the time of the judgment or settlement.... Otherwise the judgment or settlement cannot be said to “affee[t] the behavior of the defendant toward the plaintiff.” ... Only under these circumstances can civil rights litigation affect “the material alteration of the legal relationship of the parties” and thereby transform the plaintiff into a prevailing party.... In short, a plaintiff “prevails” when actual relief on the merits of his claim materially alters the legal relationship between the parties by modifying the defendant’s behavior in a way that directly benefits the plaintiff.”
1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority“the court, in its discretion, may allow the prevailing party, other than the United States, a reasonable attorney's fee ....”
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.