Bruce v. United States’s Empirical Analysis
621 F.2d 914 · 1980
Citation profile
28 federal appellate · 10 district ·
How this case has been cited
Cited by 55 later decisions — most recently August 2008 · most notably Laningham v. United States Navy (1987), Windsor v. The Tennessean (1983)
28 federal appellate · 10 district ·
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 Califano v. Sanders · Chrysler Corporation v. Brown · Thompson v. Oklahoma · Robert v. Bruce v. W. J. Estelle, Director, Texas Department of Corrections · Bruce v. Estelle
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 55 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“No agency shall disclose any record which is contained in a system of records by any means of communication to any person, or to another agency, except pursuant to a written request by, or with the prior written consent of, the individual to whom the record pertains.”
3 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“(1) Whenever any agency____ (d) fails to comply with any other provision of this section, or any rule promulgated thereunder, in such a way as to have an adverse effect on an individual, the individual may bring a civil action against the agency, and the district courts of the United States shall have jurisdiction in the matters under the provisions of this subsection..... (4) In any suit brought under the provisions of subsection (g)(1)(C) or (D) of this section in which the Court determines that the agency acted in a manner which was intentional or willful, the United States [shall] be liable to the individual in an amount equal to the sum of— (A) actual damages sustained by the individual as a result of the refusal or failure, but in no case shall a person entitled to recovery receive less than the sum of $1,000; and (B) the costs of action together with reasonable attorney fees as determined by the Court. (Emphasis added).”
1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority““In a suit for damages, the [compromise] amendment reflects a belief that a finding of willful, arbitrary or capricious action is too harsh a standard of proof for an individual to exercise the rights granted by this legislation. Thus the standard for recovery of damages was reduced to ‘willful or intentional’ action by an agency. On a continuum between negligence and the very high standard of willful, arbitrary, or capricious conduct, this standard is viewed as only somewhat greater than gross negligence.””
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.