Ruley v. Nelson’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

2 federal appellate · 7 district ·

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

1. “If a service of the summons and complaint is not made upon a defendant within 120 days after the filing of the complaint and the party on whose behalf such service was required cannot show good cause why such service was not made within that period, the action shall be dismissed as to that defendant without prejudice upon the court’s own initiative with notice to such party or upon motion.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Sipes v. Galaxy Airlines, Inc.

2. “Rule 4 is meant to be strictly construed [and that] plaintiff's attorney is charged with the responsibility of obtaining prompt service of summons and complaint . . . if service is not effected within 120 days after the filing of the complaint, the plaintiff has the burden of establishing "good cause”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. In Re Hollis and Co.

3. “In Wei, the Ninth Circuit stated that a desire to amend the complaint did not constitute “good cause” for delay. This is analogous to the desire of the plaintiffs attorney herein to learn more about the case. It has been held repeatedly that inadvertence of counsel does not qualify as “good cause.””

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Philipp Bros. v. Bay