Williams v. Butler’s Empirical Analysis
746 F.2d 431 · 1984
Citation profile
26 federal appellate · 4 district · 1 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 47 later decisions — most recently February 2004 · most notably SRI International v. Matsushita Electric Corp. (1985), Osterneck v. Et Barwick Industries Inc et Me & Osterneck (1987)
26 federal appellate · 4 district · 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 42 U.S.C. § 1983 (Civil Rights Act of 1871 / Section 1983 (Ku Klux Klan Act))
Relies on Monell v. Department of Social Services of City of New York · Hensley v. Eckerhart · Monroe v. Pape · United States v. Socony-Vacuum Oil Co. · Owen v. City of Independence
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 47 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“(1) if, according to a policy or custom established by a governing body, an official is delegated the authority, either directly or indirectly, to act on behalf of a governing body; and (2) if a decision made within the scope of the official’s authority ends the matter, then the acts of the official may fairly be said to be those of the local governing body.”
1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the dissent“Only in extraordinary situations, in order to prevent a 'plain miscarriage of justice,' will a reviewing court reverse a judgment based upon errors not objected to at trial.”
1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the dissent“'final authority or ultimate repository of ... power', that official's 'conduct and decisions must necessarily be considered those of one”
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.