Matthews v. Gaither’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

15 federal appellate · 10 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 45 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “an action may be dismissed by the plaintiff without order of the court (i) by filing a notice of dismissal at any time before service of the adverse party of an answer or of a motion for summary judgment, whichever first occurs, or (ii) by filing a stipulation of dismissal signed by all parties who have appeared in the action.”

   2 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Marex Titanic, Inc. v. Wrecked & Abandoned Vessel · University of South Alabama v. American Tobacco Co.

2. “[t]he purpose of this provision is to 'weed out the litigants who falsely understate their net worth in order to obtain in forma pauperis status when they are not entitled to that status based on their true net worth.'”

   2 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Attwood v. Singletary · Lee v. McDonald's Corp.

3. “[T]he sole basis for dismissal of Camp’s. petition was an inaccurate answer in his affidavit. There was no finding of bad faith, litigiousness or manipulative tactics. Indeed, in his petition to proceed in forma pauperis, Camp attached a certification by the prison financial officer attesting to Camp’s actual bank balance and thus belied any inference of intentional misrepresentation. Moreover, upon receipt of the defendant’s motion to dismiss, Camp filed a more current bank statement, and tendered twenty dollars as partial payment of fees. The district court first should have determined whether considering the facts as a whole, Camp’s inaccuracy foreclosed in forma pauperis eligibility. If, indeed, it so found, then the court in the exercise of its statutorily conferred discretion, should have applied less severe sanctions: revoking in forma pau-peris status and accepting the partial payment of filing fees or allowing Camp a reasonable time in which to pay the entire fee before dismissing the petition with prejudice, or alternatively, dismissing without prejudice. We hold, therefore, that the district court abused its discretion by automatically dismissing Camp’s petition with prejudice.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Ross v. Fogam