Houdnos v. Evans’s Empirical Analysis
807 F.2d 648 · 1986
Citation profile
16 federal appellate · 1 district · 1 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 24 later decisions — most recently July 2020
16 federal appellate · 1 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)) · 42 U.S.C. § 1985
Relies on McDonnell Douglas Corp. v. Green · Gunning v. Cooley · Brady v. Southern Railway Co. · Lawrence v. United States · Bradley v. J. F. Batte & Sons of Richmond, Inc.
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 24 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“that in every case, before the evidence is left to the jury, there is a preliminary question for the judge, not whether there is literally no evidence, but whether there is any upon which a jury can properly proceed to find a verdict for the party producing it, upon whom the onus of proof is imposed.”
4 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“By directing verdicts for defendants, the district judge necessarily found that plaintiff had not produced enough evidence about those events, even when viewed in the light most favorable to plaintiff’s position, to allow the jury to make a reasonable finding in plaintiff’s favor. That is the standard by which directed verdicts and judgments notwithstanding jury verdicts are judged. The district judge must determine “whether the evidence presented, combined with all the reasonable inferences permissibly drawn therefrom, is sufficient to support the verdict when viewed in a light most favorable to the party against whom the motion is directed.” Tice v. Lampert Yards, Inc., 761 F.2d 1210, 1213 (7th Cir.1985); Benson v. Allphin, 786 F.2d 268, 279 (7th Cir.) (“The standard for granting a directed verdict is very generous to the nonmovant.”), cert. denied, — U.S.-, 107 S.Ct. 172 , 93 L.Ed.2d 109 (1986). The district judge is not permitted to resolve conflicts in the testimony or weigh and evaluate the evidence. These functions are reserved for the jury. See, e.g., Continental Casualty Co. v. Howard, 775 F.2d 876, 879 (7th Cir.1985), cert. denied, — U.S.-, 106 S.Ct. 1641 , 90 L.Ed.2d 186 (1986). Nevertheless, the district judge must determine whether “the evidence, taken as a whole, provides a sufficient probative basis upon which a jury could reasonably reach a verdict, without ‘speculation over legally unfounded claims.’ ” Panter v. Marshall Field & Co., 646 F.2d 271, 281 (7th Ci”
1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority““the burden then shifts to defendants to articulate a legitimate non-discriminatory reason for taking the action alleged by plaintiff to be discriminatory. If defendants do articulate such a reason, the burden then shifts back to plaintiff to demonstrate that the proffered reason is merely a pretext for discrimination.””
1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majoritye.g. Sims v. Mulcahy
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.