Brandt v. Monte’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

2 district ·

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 3 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “Whether the Ancora Defendants reasonably perceived a genuine emergency turns on the circumstances they confronted, in particular, what they knew at the time and just how aggravated, erratic, or violent Plaintiff was in his encounter with them. In other words, the legal determination of whether the Ancora Defendants’ perception of an emergency was reasonable, is contingent upon a factual determination of what circumstances they actually confronted. At one end of the spectrum, if Plaintiff had been wielding a knife while shouting uncontrollably at the Ancora Defendants, their perception of an emergency would clearly have been reasonable. At the other end of the spectrum, if Plaintiff had been sitting calmly and speaking in a conversational tone while politely expressing his disagreement with the Ancora Defendants’ decision to medicate him, no reasonable person in their position would have perceived an emergency. Predictably, however, the actual encounter falls in the gray area between these hypothetical poles. When conducting a “totality of the circumstances” analysis, the Court does not necessarily give equal weight to all evidence. In determining what circumstances confronted the Ancora Defendants, the Court is mindful that treatment team members’ notes from the day of the incident provide more reliable evidence of their actual perceptions than does deposition testimony, in which parties often try, retrospectively, to justify their conduct long after the incident. Furthermore”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the concurrence
   e.g. 721 F. Supp. 2d 389 - Miskovitch v. Hostoffer

2. “The Court cannot hold, based on the evidence before it, that a reasonable person in the Ancora Defendants’ position would have perceived an emergency. This inquiry turns on what behavior Plaintiff actually displayed in the treatment team meeting. From the evidence on the record, it is just as likely that Plaintiff displayed aggressive and violent behavior giving rise to a reasonably perceived emergency, as it is that Plain tiff expressed his frustration with such non-threatening, commonplace behaviors as raising one’s voice, leaving the room, and moving closer to one’s disputant. To resolve this factual dispute, the Court would have to make a credibility determination about such factors as whether or not Plaintiff was yelling and flailing his hands, as Monte testified in her deposition. The Court is unable to make such a determination on a written record alone. As the decision of whether the Ancora Defendants reasonably perceived an emergency is contingent upon the credibility-centered factual determination of what circumstances they confronted, the Court cannot decide the legal issue without first resolving the factual dispute.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the concurrence
   e.g. 721 F. Supp. 2d 389 - Miskovitch v. Hostoffer

3. “HOSTILE, AGGRESSIVE, ANGRY, REFUSING TO TAKE MEDS, IMPULSIVE, LONG HX [HISTORY] OF AGGRESSIVE/ASSAULTIVE/CRIMINAL BEHAVIOR, EXTREMELY MANIPULATIVE — HAS COURT ORDER TO COMPLY WITH PRESCRIBED MEDICATION — VERY CONFRONTATIONAL WITH HIGH LEVEL OF AGITATION AND HOSTILITY — HX [HISTORY] OF 2 ESCAPES FROM GPPH [GREYSTONE PARK PSYCHIATRIC HOSPITAL] — KROL STATUS.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. 721 F. Supp. 2d 389 - Miskovitch v. Hostoffer