Madsen v. Scott’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 traditional definition of a servant is that he [or she] is a person employed to perform services in the affairs of another, whose physical conduct in the performance of the service is controlled, or is subject to a right of control, by the other. This is, however, a great over-simplification of a complex matter. In determining the existence of “control” or the right to it, many factors are to be taken into account and balanced against one another — the extent to which, by agreement, the employer may determine the details of the work; the kind of occupation and the customs of the community as to whether the work usually is supervised by the employer; whether the one employed is engaged in a distinct business or occupation, and the skill required of him [or her]; who supplies the place and instrumentalities of the work; the length of time the employment is to last; the method of payment, and many others.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. Madsen v. Scott

2. “Just as the injury in [State Farm] was precipitated by the housesitter’s failure to follow the involved instructions regarding the furnace, the injury in this case may be viewed as precipitated by the housesitter’s failure to follow the less involved, but nonetheless specific, instruction not to let anyone touch the guns. Thus, it may be said that a master-servant relationship exists with respect to the very thing from which the injury arose....”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. Madsen v. Scott