Fall 2024 Getting Started with Legal Research RSW

Assume your firm is representing a client in a matter before the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York (S.D.N.Y.).   The partner for whom you are working over the summer points you to a legal treatise and says "use that to find some controlling cases as a starting point for your research." 

After reading the relevant portion of the treatise, you feel that of all the sources cited, the following six cases seem to be the closest on point to your legal issue:

•  Ackel v. National Communications, Inc., 339 F.3d 376 (5th Cir. 2003).
•  Gary v. Long, 59 F.3d 1391 (D.C. Cir. 1995). 
• Lane v. Lucent Technologies, Inc., 388 F. Supp.2d 590 (M.D.N.C. 2005).  
• Parrish v. Sollecito, 290 F. Supp.2d 145 (S.D.N.Y. 2003). 
• Tomka v. Seiler Corp., 66 F.3d 1295 (2nd Cir. 1995). 
• Vance v. Ball State University, 570 U.S. 421 (2013).

Assuming they are still good law, how many of these six decisions would be mandatory (controlling) authority that would have to be followed by a judge in the S.D.N.Y.?