Donovan v. Fitzsimmons’s Empirical Analysis
1981
Citation profile
5 federal appellate · 13 district · 7 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 49 later decisions — most recently October 2016 · most notably Brown v. Superior Court in & for Maricopa Cy. (1983), Secretary of Labor v. Fitzsimmons (1986)
5 federal appellate · 13 district · 7 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 Hickman v. Taylor · Upjohn Company v. United States · United States v. Nobles · Garner v. Wolfinbarger · Grand Jury Proceedings Fmc Corporation
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 49 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“Trial Preparation: Materials. Subject to the provisions of subdivision (b)(4) of this rule, a party may obtain discovery of documents and tangible things otherwise discoverable under subdivision (b)(1) of this rule and prepared in anticipation of litigation or for trial by or for another party or by or for that other party’s representative (including the other party’s attorney, consultant, surety, indemnitor, insurer, or agent) only upon a showing that the party seeking discovery has substantial need of the materials in the preparation of the party’s case and that the party is unable without undue hardship to obtain the substantial equivalent of the materials by other means. In ordering the discovery of such materials when the required showing has been made, the court shall protect against disclosure of the mental impressions, conclusions, opinions, or legal theories of an attorney or other representative of a party concerning the litigation.”
1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority“with DOL more interested in establishing a broad precedent to deter pension plan maladministration and the beneficiaries more interested in securing maximum restitution to the Fund for the payment of benefits” but finding”
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.