Bernice Sokol v. Jacob L. Bernstein, M.D.’s Empirical Analysis
812 F.2d 559 · 1987
Citation profile
9 federal appellate · 3 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 17 later decisions — most recently October 2017
9 federal appellate · 3 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 29 U.S.C. § 1132 (§ 502 of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974)
Relies on Hummell v. S. E. Rykoff & Co. · Nachwalter v. Christie · Perkins v. Standard Oil Co. of California · Sokol v. Bernstein · Operating Engineers Pension Trust v. Gilliam
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 17 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“(1) the degree of the opposing parties’ culpability or bad faith; (2) the ability of the opposing parties to satisfy an award of attorneys’ fees; (3) whether an award of attorneys’ fees against the opposing parties would deter other persons acting under similar circumstances; (4) whether the parties requesting attorneys’ fees sought to benefit all participants and beneficiaries of an ERISA plan or to resolve a significant legal question regarding ERISA itself; and (5) the relative merits of the parties’ positions.”
1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority“[T]he appeal sought to resolve a significant legal question regarding ERISA; the availability vel non of damages for emotional distress under § 502(a)(3). Finally, there is no question that the equities in this litigation lie with Sokol. These considerations mirror those that we found in affirming the district court’s award of attorneys’ fees at the trial level.”
1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority“criteria often suggest that attorney's fees should not be awarded against ERISA plaintiffs.”
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.