Which of the many cases citing my case are worth reading?

An influential court opinion may have been cited in hundreds—even thousands—of other cases. (For example, the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Chevron, U.S.A., Inc. v. Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc., 104 S. Ct. 2778 (1984), has been cited in 10,724 federal and state cases as of October 6, 2009.) It simply is not cost-effective—or humanly possible—to read them all.

The good news is that KeyCite citing references start with the important cases—cases that negatively affect the cited case's validity. The remaining citing cases are grouped according to the depth of treatment they give the cited case, starting with the citing cases that discuss it in depth. Depth of treatment categories are marked with stars, as follows:

Examined: The citing case contains an extended discussion of the cited cases, usually more than a printed page of text.
Discussed: The citing case contains a substantial discussion of the cited case, usually more than a paragraph but less than a printed page.
Cited: The citing case contains some discussion of the cited case, usually less than a paragraph.
Mentioned: The citing case contains a brief reference to the cited case, usually in a string citation.

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