Whited v. Fields’s Empirical Analysis
1984
Citation profile
12 federal appellate · 1 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 28 later decisions — most recently April 2019 · most notably Terry Jd v. Ac Cook D (1989), Jenkins v. Medford (1997)
12 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 28 U.S.C. § 1343 · 42 U.S.C. § 1981 (Civil Rights Act of 1866)
Relies on Monell v. Department of Social Services of City of New York · Mt. Healthy City School District Board of Education v. Doyle · Connick v. Myers · Elrod v. Burns · Branti v. Finkel
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 28 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“In Virginia ... the relationship between the sheriff and his deputy is such that he is not simply the ‘alter ego’ of the sheriff, but he is one and the same as the sheriff. The public policy of Virginia with regard to the relationship between the sheriff and his deputy is grounded in the common law and is stated in Miller v. Jones, 50 Va. (9 Gratt.) 584 (1853) ... [N]ot only is the sheriff liable civilly for the acts of his deputy in Virginia, but he is also liable criminally and can be fined for the conduct of his deputy. The most significant parts of the foregoing law which is today the public policy of Virginia are the words that as between a sheriff and his deputy they are as ‘one person’. There can be no doubt that the statute regarding the appointment of deputies in Virginia is grounded upon a very good foundation. Since the sheriff is liable absolutely for all the acts of his deputies, the sheriff should have complete and unfettered control over who his deputies are____ Whited v. Fields, 581 F.Supp. 1444 at 1454-1455 (W.D.Va. March 5, 1984).”
2 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the dissent“discharge any of the official duties of their principal during his continuance in office....”
2 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the dissent“of the sheriff, but he is one and the same as the sheriff.'”
2 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the dissent
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.