Stefan v. Laurenitis’s Empirical Analysis
889 F.2d 363 · 1989
Citation profile
18 federal appellate · 4 district · 1 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 34 later decisions — most recently January 2021 · most notably Coutin v. Young & Rubicam Puerto Rico, Inc. (1997), Lewis v. Kendrick (1991)
18 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)) · 42 U.S.C. § 1988
Relies on Monell v. Department of Social Services of City of New York · Hensley v. Eckerhart · Alyeska Pipeline Service Company v. Wilderness Society · Roadway Express, Inc. v. Piper · Newman v. Piggie Park Enterprises, 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 34 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“significant issue in litigation which achieves some of the benefit ... sought in bringing suit.”
2 later decisions quote this exact passage“Stefan and Dunn, in this case, would be “prevailing parties” within the meaning of section 1988, provided that they “succeeded on ‘any significant issue in [the] litigation which achievefd] some of the benefit the parties sought in bringing suit.’ ” Texas Teachers [v. Garland Independent School Dist., 489 U.S. 782 ] 109 S.Ct. [1486] at 1493 [ 103 L.Ed.2d 866 (1989)] (quoting Nadeau [v. Helge moe], 581 F.2d [275], at 278-79 [(1st Cir.1978)]). At a minimum, Stefan and Dunn have succeeded or “prevailed” if their lawsuit can be said to have changed “the legal relationship” between them and Laurenitis, Wysocki, and the town ... Although the injunction was denied, they did receive $16,000 in damages as a result of the settlements. Hence, it is clear that Stefan and Dunn succeeded in obtaining some of the relief sought, and did achieve one of their objectives in bringing this suit, viz. monetary damages.”
1 later decision quote this exact passage“[in any action or proceeding to enforce a provision of sections [including 42 U.S.C. § 1983 ], the court, in its discretion, may allow the prevailing party ... a reasonable attorney's fee as part of the costs....”
1 later decision quote this exact passagee.g. Daffron v. Snyder
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.