Culbertson v. Lykos’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

13 federal appellate · 2 state decisions

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

1. “the law was not clearly established that a mere recommendation of termination to a higher authority who makes the final decision causes an adverse employment action”

   3 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the dissent
   e.g. Sims v. City of Madisonville · Buchanan v. Alexander

2. “between Jett and the later decisions interpreting Beattie to hold that only final decision makers may be held liable for First Amendment retaliation under § 1983, the Culbertson court concluded: It can at least be said that before [the ADA] could be individually liable despite not being the final decision-maker, it must be shown that her recommendation was made in retaliation for constitutionally protected speech and was the reason the adverse employment decision was made by the final decision-maker. A”

   2 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the dissent
   e.g. Buchanan v. Alexander · Powers v. Northside Independent School District

3. “[i]t was unsettled...whether someone who is not a final decision-maker and makes a recommendation that leads to the plaintiff being harmed can be liable for retaliation under Section 1983.”

   2 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the dissent
   e.g. Sims v. City of Madisonville · Buchanan v. Alexander