Ramos v. Rodriguez’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

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

1. “I find that the instructions when read as a whole make it clear that damages in favor of Mrs. Turpie for loss of consortium could only be awarded if either Defendant’s malpractice was a proximate cause of the death of Mr. Turpie. No independent cause of action was plead [sic] on behalf of Mrs. Turpie, nor does one exist under the facts of this case. While the special verdict form could have been clearer, the jury’s answers to questions 2 and 4 clearly show that they found no causation between Defendants’ negligence and Mr. Turpie’s death. That being so the findings in favor of Mrs. Turpie on her derivative claim and the award of damages to her cannot stand under the law and are, therefore, mere surplusage. I do not think that Defendants were required to object at trial to the verdict. The verdict is not improper, nor is it inconsistent. When I read the verdict at trial it was clear to me that the jury misunderstood the nature of Mrs. Turpie’s loss of consortium claim. Because they clearly found that there was no proximate cause between the malpractice of Defendants and the death of Mr. Turpie, I deemed the findings and the award of damages in favor of Mrs. Turpie to be surplusage.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. Turpie v. Southwest Cardiology Associates, P.A.