Grimley v. State’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

6 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 6 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “"The remaining point on appeal questions the sufficiency of the evidence to establish that defendant's negligence was the proximate cause of decedent's death. It cannot be denied but the tragedy in question consisted of a series of most unfortunate events, and the life of decedent would have been spared had any one of the events failed to occur. The rear end collision caused by defendant's momentary lapse or inattention was no different in most respects from numerous similar incidents which occur almost daily throughout our state. Most such collisions result in little more than bent fenders, a crushed radiator and an occasional whiplash injury to the occupant of the innocent vehicle. In this case, however, the collision caused decedent's automobile to catch on fire which resulted in serious burns to the upper extremities of decedent's body. Decedent's satisfactory recovery was interrupted by an unexplained cardiac arrest which in turn induced an onset of septicemia. It was this latter condition which proximately caused death. Although it cannot seriously be contended that the foregoing series of events could have been reasonably foreseen as the natural and probable consequences of a rear end automobile collision, we nevertheless are forced to the conclusion that it was the negligent act of defendant which ultimately resulted in decedent's death."”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. Adams v. State

2. ““When considered in a light most favorable to the State, the most that can be said of the evidence against defendant is that at the time of the collision he was to some degree under the influence of intoxicants and while driving in the nighttime at a lawful rate of speed on his side of an open highway through an unprecedented snow fall, he momentarily diverted his attention from the road in an effort to discern the boundary of a crossroad into which he expected to turn and therefore did not see decedent’s stationary automobile in the traffic lane directly ahead of him until it was impossible to avoid colliding with it.””

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. Flint v. State