Monell v. New York City Dept. of Social Services
436 U.S. 658 (1978) Cited 66,889 times 15 Legal AnalysesHolding that "local government . . . are 'persons'" for purposes of 42 U.S.C. § 1983
Kentucky v. Graham
473 U.S. 159 (1985) Cited 19,159 times 1 Legal AnalysesHolding that "an official-capacity suit is, in all respects other than name, to be treated as a suit against the entity," and that "a plaintiff seeking to recover on a damages judgment in an official-capacity suit must look to the government entity itself"
Conley v. Gibson
355 U.S. 41 (1957) Cited 58,446 times 25 Legal AnalysesHolding that "a complaint should not be dismissed for failure to state a claim unless it appears beyond doubt that the plaintiff can prove no set of facts in support of his claim which would entitle him to relief"
Griffin v. Oceanic Contractors, Inc.
458 U.S. 564 (1982) Cited 1,264 times 2 Legal AnalysesHolding that a court has no discretion in the assessment of the double-wage penalty
Browning v. Clinton
292 F.3d 235 (D.C. Cir. 2002) Cited 1,327 timesHolding that when a tortious interference claim is based solely on allegedly defamatory remarks, it is "intertwined" with plaintiff's defamation claim and therefore subject to the same one-year statute of limitations
Kowal v. MCI Communications Corp.
16 F.3d 1271 (D.C. Cir. 1994) Cited 1,793 times 1 Legal AnalysesHolding that statements of optimism give rise to a strong inference of scienter if they lacked a reasonable basis when made
Burnett v. N.Y. Cent. R. Co.
380 U.S. 424 (1965) Cited 1,015 timesHolding that an action filed in an improper venue tolled the FELA statute of limitations, and noting that "venue objections may be waived by the defendant"
E.E.O.C. v. St. Francis Xavier Parochial
117 F.3d 621 (D.C. Cir. 1997) Cited 1,266 timesHolding that question of whether defendant was a covered entity under ADA is not jurisdictional, but merits related
Sandvik v. U.S.
177 F.3d 1269 (11th Cir. 1999) Cited 954 times 3 Legal AnalysesHolding that "[e]quitable tolling is appropriate when a movant untimely files because of extraordinary circumstances that are both beyond his control and unavoidable even with diligence"
Price v. Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya
294 F.3d 82 (D.C. Cir. 2002) Cited 270 times 1 Legal AnalysesHolding that plaintiffs' allegations of abuse did not amount to the allegations of torture required by § 1605 to survive a motion to dismiss
Rule 12 - Defenses and Objections: When and How Presented; Motion for Judgment on the Pleadings; Consolidating Motions; Waiving Defenses; Pretrial Hearing
Fed. R. Civ. P. 12 Cited 344,767 times 920 Legal AnalysesGranting the court discretion to exclude matters outside the pleadings presented to the court in defense of a motion to dismiss
Section 1605 - General exceptions to the jurisdictional immunity of a foreign state
28 U.S.C. § 1605 Cited 1,888 times 47 Legal AnalysesAdopting the meaning given that term in section 3 of the Torture Victim Protection Act of 1991
Section 1602 - Findings and declaration of purpose
28 U.S.C. § 1602 Cited 1,438 times 16 Legal AnalysesSetting forth Congressional findings and the purposes of FSIA
Section 1603 - Definitions
28 U.S.C. § 1603 Cited 1,351 times 7 Legal AnalysesRequiring that a "majority" of "shares or other ownership interest" be "owned" by the foreign state or its political subdivision
Section 1350 - Alien's action for tort
28 U.S.C. § 1350 Cited 1,162 times 64 Legal AnalysesGranting district courts jurisdiction over "any civil action . . . for a tort only, committed in violation of the law of nations"
Section 1604 - Immunity of a foreign state from jurisdiction
28 U.S.C. § 1604 Cited 1,105 times 9 Legal AnalysesGranting immunity to foreign states, their agencies, and their instrumentalities
Section 1608 - Service; time to answer; default
28 U.S.C. § 1608 Cited 899 times 5 Legal AnalysesAuthorizing service "through diplomatic channels"