Smith v. Cote’s Empirical Analysis
1986
Citation profile
9 federal appellate · 13 district · 70 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 96 later decisions — most recently July 2021 · most notably 117 Ill. 2d 230 - Siemieniec v. Lutheran General Hospital (1987), Kassel v. Gannett Co. (1989)
9 federal appellate · 13 district · 70 state decisions — followed in 24 states
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 Roe v. Wade · Thornburgh v. American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists · In Re Quinlan · Becker v. Schwartz · 31 Cal. 3d 220 - Turpin v. Sortini
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 96 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“parents may recover extraordinary costs incurred both before and after their child attains majority. Some courts do not permit recovery of post-majority expenses, on the theory that the parents’ obligation of support terminates when the child reaches twenty-one. E.g., Bani-Esraili v. Wald, 127 Misc.2d 202 , 485 N.Y.S.2d 708 ([N.Y.Sup.Ct.1986]). In New Hampshire, however, parents are required to support their disabled adult offspring.”
2 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the dissent“"[W]e are mindful that controversy regarding the Turpin rule may have little practical significance when recovery for wrongful birth is permitted. The same extraordinary expenses Turpin would allow in wrongful life actions are covered by our rule allowing parental recovery of post-majority expenses. Because such expenses cannot be recovered by both parent and child, the net effect is the same. Recognition of the wrongful life action would make a substantial difference only in limited circumstances, as when the statute of limitations bars the parental but not the filial claim (as in Procanik ) or when the parents are unavailable to sue."”
1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the dissent“it is possible for prospective parents (1) to know, well in advance of birth, of the risk or presence of congenital defects in the fetus they have conceived; and (2) to decide to terminate the pregnancy on the basis of this 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.