Lennon v. . Smith’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

2 district · 11 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 13 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. ““But liaving determined that the defendant was entitled to relief from the obligation of her contract by the breach of it by the plaintiff, and having for that reason wholly relieved her from it accordingly, it is difficult to see how the referee could properly have awarded damages in her favor against the plaintiff for the nonperformance of the contract. She could not repudiate the contract for the purpose of barring the plaintiff’s claim for his work, and at thé same time make it effectual for the recovery of damages against him for its breach, although she might, if the facts permitted, recover damages, if any there were, in excess of the price or value of the plaintiff’s work. And the reason is that in such case the contract is permitted to remain operative for the purpose of the remedy and relief of both parties to it, and it is no less essential to support the defendant’s claim for damages than it is to sustain that of the plaintiff founded upon it for 'his work. It is apparent that a rule having the effect to give one of the parties to a contract the benefit of it to the exclusion of the other in the same ■ action would or might work very unjustly to the latter and quite unreasonably to the profit of the former. Walker v. Millard, 29 N. Y. 375 ; Woodward v. Fuller, 80 N. Y. 312 . In the present case the conclusion was warranted by the evidence that the work performed by the defendant at the contract prices amounted to more than the damages recovered by the defendant. T”

   2 later decisions quote this exact passage
   e.g. Burgie v. Hicks · Reilly v. Lee