Matter of Linton Appeal of Lasiter’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

3 district · 2 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 81 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “If [the trustee] is burdened with having to defend against suits by litigants disappointed by his actions on the court’s behalf, his work for the court will be impeded .... Without the requirement [of leave], trusteeship will become a more irksome duty, and so it will be harder for courts to find competent people to appoint as trustees. Trustees will have to pay higher malpractice premiums, and this will make the administration of the bankruptcy laws more expensive .... Furthermore, requiring that leave to sue be sought enables the bankruptcy judges to monitor the work of the trustees more effectively.”

   23 later decisions quote this exact passage
   e.g. In Re Berry Publishing Services, Inc. · Taraska v. Carmel

2. “[The plaintiffs] appear to believe that the fact that the trustee dropped the adversary action shows that it was groundless and therefore malicious. This of course is wrong. Many suits filed in good faith after careful precom-plaint investigation fizzle long before judgment, whether because further investigation fails to substantiate the allegations of the complaint or because the defendant presents compelling evidence in his favor that the plaintiff didn’t know about or because it turns out that the defendant doesn’t have sufficient assets to make the continued prosecution of the suit worthwhile. As long as there is probable cause to sue, there is no malicious prosecution. The bankruptcy judge was satisfied that there was probable cause here.... Such a chain of transfers was bound to cause a light bulb to flash in a receiver’s or bankruptcy trustee’s brain. The trustee might well have been thought derelict not to pursue the claim of fraudulent conveyance to the extent that he did. The fact that [the trustee] couldn’t substantiate his suspicions did not retroactively remove his probable cause to sue.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. Grant, Konvalinka & Harrison, P.C. v. Banks (In re McKenzie)

3. “An unbroken line of cases ... has imposed [this] requirement as a matter of federal common law.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. In re Jankauskas