Kidd v. Williams’s Empirical Analysis
1901
Citation profile
29 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 31 later decisions — most recently July 1989 · most notably Hill v. Hall (1906), Verner v. Mosely (1929)
29 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 Noble's Adm'r v. Moses Bros. · Dickinson v. Bradford · Lecatt v. Sallee · Moses Bros. v. Noble's Adm'r · Yonge v. Hooper
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 31 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
““If the client is competent and capable, and with full knowledge of the transaction he proposes to settle with his attorney, acts deliberately, and voluntarily settles his account for services with his attorney, there would seem to be no indispensable necessity for independent advice on the subject. This would certainly be true when shown that there had been no fraud, deceit, or unconscionable advantage practiced by the attorney on the client, which would rebut the presumption of a violation of confidence reposed, as much so as independent advice would do. All that is necessary is for the client to be placed in such a position as would enable him ‘to form an entirely free and unfettered judgment, independent altogether of any sort of control.’ If this does not appear, it would be necessary to show that the client had independent advice, in order to remove the presumption of unfairness. But when this presumption is otherwise removed, a rule that would, in addition, require independent advice would seem to be arbitrary and unnecessary. ‘It is only when confidence is abused that courts of conscience interfere,’ and this essential fact in such cases may be shown by any competent evidence. Independent advice is simply a means of proof to establish the fairness of the settlement, and that it was voluntarily entered into free from undue influence. This is made clear under the decisions of this court.””
1 later decision quote this exact passage““Of course, the satisfaction necessary for a court of equity to have, in order to sustain or set aside a settlement of the kind, would vary according to the circumstances of, and the evidence presented in, each cause. The age and experience or inexperience of the client, his mental and physical strength, or the lack of it, and general capacity to know, appreciate, and understand the matter of a settlement with his attorney, should always be considered.””
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.