Telthorster v. Tennell’s Empirical Analysis
2002
Citation profile
4 federal appellate · 49 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 65 later decisions — most recently November 2025 · most notably The City of El Paso v. Lilli M. Heinrich (2009), Gates v. Texas Deparment of Protective & Regulatory Services (2008)
4 federal appellate · 49 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.
Appellate journey
reviewedthe decision below (from Texas Court of Appeals, 14th District (Houston))
Relationships
Applies 42 U.S.C. § 1983 (Civil Rights Act of 1871 / Section 1983 (Ku Klux Klan Act))
Relies on Harlow v. Fitzgerald · Scheuer v. Rhodes · Graham v. Connor · Malley v. Briggs · Daniels v. Williams
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 65 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“I exercised my discretion and determined that the need to protect the physical safety of the other investigating officers; the need to maintain contact with the known suspect and the need to protect the public at large from a suspected criminal activity, outweighed the minimal risk to the public that would be created by continuing with the investigation and possibly being involved in an accident while traveling to the suspected crime in progress, therefore, I proceeded to follow the subject of our criminal investigation. Based upon all of my experience and training in law enforcement, I can state that I acted in “good faith” as a reasonable and prudent peace officer in making my decision to continue my investigation. Further, based upon all of my experience and training in law enforcement, I can, and do, state that another reasonably prudent peace officer, under the same or similar circumstances, could have believed that the need to continue the moving surveillance of the suspect, outweighed the minimal risk of harm to the public, of a potential traffic accident, that would be created by the peace officer traveling to the location of the reported crime in progress. Based upon my experience and training as a peace officer, I can, and do, state that I acted in “good faith” as a reasonably prudent peace officer in the manner in which I drove my vehicle on Kirby Drive in Houston, Texas. Further, based upon my training and experience as a peace officer, I can, and do, state that a”
1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority““Nowhere else in public service is official immunity more appropriate or necessary than in police work. In their routine work, police officers must be free to make split-second judgments ... based on their experience and training, without fear of personal liability.” If police officers were subject to liability for every mistake, the constant threat of suit could “dampen the ardor of all but the most resolute, or the most irresponsible” officers.”
1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority“The purpose of official immunity is to insulate the functioning of government from the harassment of litigation, not to protect erring officials. The public would suffer if government officers, who must exercise judgment and discretion in their jobs, were subject to civil lawsuits that second-guessed their decisions. Official immunity increases the efficiency of employees because they need not spend time defending frivolous charges.”
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.