Hallowell v. Commonwealth’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

5 state decisions

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 5 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “Notwithstanding what Nationwide might or could have done with respect to payment of claims, it is undisputed that only one accident occurred under Jessica’s automobile insurance policy, and that she was not involved in any of the other accidents. Pertinent to this matter is our decision in McDonnell v. Insurance Department, 94 Pa.Commonwealth Ct. 381, 503 A.2d 1042 (1986), where we held that an insurer bears the burden of proving that accidents occurring within thirty-six months of a policy’s anniversary date occurred under the same policy_ We stated ... that ‘the Act discusses accidents occurring under “the policy,” rather than “an individual’s policies,” thus clearly indicating the legislative intent that each policy is to be examined for the number of accidents occurring under that policy, rather than an examination of the number of accidents attributable to any individual.’ Id. at 384, 503 A.2d at 1043 (Emphasis added.) It is clear, therefore, that McDonnell controls the outcome here_ It would contravene the terms and purpose of the Act to permit an insurer to rely upon accidents which did not occur under a policy as a basis for refusing to renew such a policy.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. 161 Pa. Commw. 568 - Westerfer v. Insurance Commissioner of Pennsylvania