Gillette v. Delmore’s Empirical Analysis
979 F.2d 1342 · 1992
Citation profile
72 federal appellate · 29 district · 1 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 226 later decisions (1 by the Supreme Court) — most recently May 2022 · most notably Patricia Fuller v. City of Oakland, California George Hart Antonio Romero (1995), Venters v. City of Delphi (1997)
72 federal appellate · 29 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))
Relies on Monell v. Department of Social Services of City of New York · City of Canton v. Harris · Connick v. Myers · Pembaur v. City of Cincinnati · City of Oklahoma City v. Tuttle
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 226 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“First, the plaintiff may prove that a city employee committed the alleged constitutional violation pursuant to a formal governmental policy or a longstanding practice or custom which constitutes the standard operating procedure of the local governmental entity. Second, the plaintiff may establish that the individual who committed the constitutional tort was an official with final policy-making authority and that the challenged action itself thus constituted an act of official governmental policy. Whether a particular official has final policy-making authority is a question of state law. Third, the plaintiff may prove that an official with final policy-making authority ratified a subordinate’s unconstitutional decision or action and the basis for it.”
18 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“reasonably can support only a verdict for the moving party.”
3 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“the existence of a widespread practice that ... is so permanent and well settled as to constitute a 'custom or usage' with the force of law.”
2 later decisions 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.