Mitchell v. Southern Railway Co.’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

10 federal appellate · 2 district · 26 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 44 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “Such an interpretation should not be given a contract that would make the appellant responsible for the consequence of a negligent act of the appellee unless no other meaning can be ascribed to it. If a doubt existed as to its meaning, the court would resolve that doubt against the contention that the contract was intended to indemnify appellee against its own negligence. Every presumption is against such intention.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. 383 Wis. 2d 63 - Cintas Corp. No. 2 v. Becker Property Services LLC

2. ““It is sometimes not only important for the court to consider the language employed in the contract, but the circumstances surrounding the parties, and the object in view which induced the making of it. It is not proper, in construing a contract, for a court to seize upon some expression in it, and allow that to control, in disregard of other provisions of it.””

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. New York Indemnity Co. v. Hurst