Donaldson v. Clark’s Empirical Analysis
786 F.2d 1570 · 1986
Citation profile
12 federal appellate · 2 district · 1 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 31 later decisions — most recently July 2014 · most notably Jurldine A. Donaldson v. Paul v. Clark (1987), Cotner v. Hopkins (1986)
12 federal appellate · 2 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 28 U.S.C. § 1291 · 42 U.S.C. § 1983 (Civil Rights Act of 1871 / Section 1983 (Ku Klux Klan Act)) · 42 U.S.C. § 1988
Relies on Kleiner v. First National Bank · Griffith v. Wainwright · Eavenson, Auchmuty & Greenwald v. Holtzman · Holmes v. J. Ray McDermott & Co. · Davis v. Howard
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 31 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“23. As one court has explained: Rule 11 imposes an affirmative duty on counsel to make reasonable inquiry into the viability of a pleading before it is signed. Indeed, counsel’s signature is an affirmation that reasonable inquiry was in fact made ... Whether an attorney has complied with the requirements of Rule 11 is determined not by the apparent absence or presence of subjective good faith on the part of the attorney, but rather by the objective reasonableness of his action. Sanctions will therefore be imposed where the court finds that, after reasonable inquiry, a competent attorney could not form a reasonable belief that the pleading is warranted by existing law or a good faith argument for the extension, modification, or reversal of existing law.”
3 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“When attorney's fees are ... collateral to an action ..., a lack of determination as to the amount does not preclude the issuance of a final appealable judgment on the merits.”
1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority“where an attorney is fined as punishment[,] the court imposing the fine must follow the procedures as required in criminal contempt proceedings”
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.