Delta Air Lines, Inc. v. August’s Empirical Analysis
1981
Citation profile
250 federal appellate · 92 district · 157 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 798 later decisions (22 by the Supreme Court) — most recently April 2025 · most notably Office of Personnel Management v. Richmond (1990), Marek v. Chesny (1985)
250 federal appellate · 92 district · 157 state decisions — followed in 27 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
reviewedAugust v. Delta Air Lines, Inc. (from Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals)
Relationships
Applies 28 U.S.C. § 1920 · 28 U.S.C. § 1927 · 42 U.S.C. § 1988 · 42 U.S.C. § 2000E (§ 701 of the Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964) · 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 · Ohio Bureau of Employment Services v. Hodory · Christiansburg Garment Co. v. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission · Roadway Express, Inc. v. Piper · Johnson v. Georgia Highway Express, Inc.
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 798 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“If the judgment finally obtained by the offeree is not more favorable than the offer, the offeree must pay the costs incurred after the making of the offer.”
38 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“applies only to offers made by the defendant and only to judgments obtained by the plaintiff.”
28 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“Except when express provision therefor is made either in a statute of the United States or in these rules, costs ... shall be allowed as of course to the prevailing party unless the court otherwise directs....”
15 later decisions 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.