119 Ind. App. 655 - Wass v. Suter’s Empirical Analysis
1949
Citation profile
3 federal appellate · 18 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 22 later decisions — most recently July 1982
3 federal appellate · 18 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 Prest-O-Lite Co. v. Skeel · Union Traction Co. v. Berry · City of Decatur v. Eady · Baltimore Ohio R. Co. v. Reyher, Admx. · Evansville & Terre Haute Railway Co. v. Berndt
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 22 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“"This doctrine has been generally defined to mean that when the thing which caused the injury to the plaintiff was under the control and management of the defendant or his servants, and the occurrence was such that in the ordinary course of things would not happen if those who had its control and management use proper care, that this affords reasonable evidence, in the absence of explanation by the defendant, that the injury arose from or was caused by the defendant's want of care; that under such circumstances there is a prima facie case of negligence." Citing authorities.”
2 later decisions quote this exact passage“"The application of the doctrine is based on the theory that under the special circumstances which invoke its operation, the plaintiff is unable to show the particular act of negligence which caused the injury or that the defendant is in a better position to do so." Wass v. Suter (1950), 119 Ind. App. 655, 661 , 84 N.E.2d 734 .”
2 later decisions quote this exact passage““The plaintiff, Insurance Company of North America, has charged the defendants with various acts of negligence in connection with the fire that destroyed the premises and property of plaintiff’s insured, Basil Metz. In order for the defendants’ alleged acts or omissions in connection with the fire to constitute negligence, the defendant, Jack Cray-craft, must have had knowledge, or in the exercise of reasonable case should have had knowledge, that such alleged acts or omissions involved a danger to others. Where a person has no knowledge, actual or constructive, of the danger which may result from his act or omission, then he is not negligent for committing or omitting such acts. The law imposes the same standard of care on both parties and it cannot be said that the duties of the defendants to exercise care are any greater than those imposed upon the plaintiff’s insured for his own safety. Where two parties have the same knowledge and the same opportunity for knowledge, they each have the same duty to exercise reasonable care, which includes the duty to see and to appreciate what can be seen and appreciated and to take reasonable precautions to avoid the perceived danger. No liability, therefore, can be imposed upon the defendants if the plaintiff’s insured, Basil Metz, or his employee, Michael Dines, had knowledge, or in the exercise of reasonable care should have had knowledge of any danger, peril or hazardous condition resulting from the unattended fire, if such knowledge”
1 later decision quote this exact passage
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.