Roadway Express, Inc. v. Piper’s Empirical Analysis
1980
Citation profile
1,496 federal appellate · 482 district · 430 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 4,498 later decisions (28 by the Supreme Court) — most recently March 2026 · most notably Chambers v. Nasco, Inc. (1991), Marek v. Chesny (1985)
1,496 federal appellate · 482 district · 430 state decisions — followed in 40 states
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.
Appellate journey
reviewedMonk v. Roadway Express, Inc. (from Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals)
Relationships
Applies 28 U.S.C. § 1920 · 28 U.S.C. § 1923 · 28 U.S.C. § 1927 · 29 U.S.C. § 216 · 42 U.S.C. § 1981 (Civil Rights Act of 1866) · 42 U.S.C. § 1988 · 42 U.S.C. § 2000A · 42 U.S.C. § 2000E (§ 706 of the Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964)
Relies on Alyeska Pipeline Service Company v. Wilderness Society · Link v. Wabash Railroad · Christiansburg Garment Co. v. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission · Owen v. City of Independence
Cited together with Alyeska Pipeline Service Company v. Wilderness Society · Link v. Wabash Railroad · Chambers v. Nasco, Inc. · National Hockey League v. Metropolitan Hockey Club, Inc. · Christiansburg Garment Co. v. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
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 4,498 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“Like other sanctions, attorney's fees certainly should not be assessed lightly or without fair notice and an opportunity for a hearing on the record.”
83 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the dissent“Because inherent powers are shielded from direct democratic controls, they must be exercised with restraint and discretion.”
71 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“Any attorney or other person admitted to conduct cases in any court of the United States or any Territory thereof who so multiplies the proceedings in any case unreasonably and vexatiously may be required by the court to satisfy personally the excess costs, expenses, and attorneys’ fees reasonably incurred because of such conduct.”
53 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the dissente.g. Marek v. Chesny · Glass v. Pfeffer
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.