Central Surety & Ins. v. Norris’s Empirical Analysis
103 F.2d 116 · 1939
Citation profile
6 federal appellate · 1 district · 1 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 19 later decisions (2 by the Supreme Court) — most recently September 2009
6 federal appellate · 1 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
Relies on Kline v. Burke Construction Co. · Maryland Casualty Co. v. Consumers Finance Service, Inc. of Pennsylvania · Central Surety & Ins. v. Caswell · Carpenter v. Edmonson
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 19 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“[I]t does not follow that the actions for damages pending or prospective ought to be enjoined. The declaratory proceeding does not cover the same issues, nor can it afford the injured persons full relief. They are claiming Mrs. Norris and her husband are personally liable. The policy liability is limited to $20,000 and the two suits already filed are for $50,000. The policy may be wholly insufficient to cover all recoveries. Delay is always harmful to such suits. Insolvency might overtake Mrs. Norris, or even the Insurance Corporation. Death of a party may defeat such an action. Witnesses may die or disappear or their memory grow faint. A question of limitation may be raised. It would not be equitable, if there is power, to delay these persons in the legal pursuit of their rights in order to enable an insurance company not yet sued to ascertain where it stands under a contract it has made with someone else. Id. at 117 (emphasis added).”
1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority“It would be very inconvenient if the federal court should, these [underlying tort] plaintiffs not being parties, decide that the [insurance] policy does not apply, and the [insurer] should not defend the actions and the [underlying tort] plaintiffs should recover and then the State court should decide the policy does apply. The interest of [the underlying tort plaintiffs] in the question the Insurance Corporation is trying to get adjudicated by a declaratory judgment is real and substantial.... They ought to be retained as parties to be heard on it and to be bound by the result.”
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.