136 So. 2d 463 - Dark v. Brinkman’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

1 federal appellate · 21 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 25 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. ““With much difficulty we have come to the following conclusions: The award of damages for personal injuries must be based upon the evidence available to the trial court, and, in view of its strictly appellate function, the reviewing court cannot reduce such damage on the basis of factual events occurring subsequent to the trial. The trial court’s award of damages for personal injuries is based upon the evidence before it, including the life expectancy of the injured person; in making such award, the trier of fact necessarily takes into consideration that the injured person, despite the general life expectancy of persons of his group, may himself live far shorter than such general life expectancy. That the injured person dies one month before the appeal is heard rather than one month after the appellate judgment is final should not affect the correctness of the trial court’s award, nor entitle the tort-feasor in the one instance any more than in the other to a reduction of the award. “To avoid the indefinite prolongation of litigation, it is necessary to assign some arbitrary date beyond which factual events affecting quantum should not be considered. Logically, this could equally well be the date by which the appellate court judgment is final, rather than the date of the trial court judgment; but, if the appellate review furnished the cut-off date for new factual matters, then cause for continued litigation will always be afforded by the ever-changing human circumstances affe”

   2 later decisions quote this exact passage
   e.g. LeBlanc v. Metal Locking of Louisiana, Inc. · 640 So. 2d 388 - Oswalt v. STATE, DOTD

2. “the loss suffered by an injured person is determinable by the conditions existing as of the date of the tort, such being the time when the right and cause of action for tort-caused damages arose, so that unrelated subsequent events such as remarriage do not affect the amount of recovery.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. 640 So. 2d 388 - Oswalt v. STATE, DOTD

3. “In estimating future elements of damage, such as for mental and physical pain and suffering, medical expense and the like, plaintiff's condition as it exists after the injury and not as it was before the injury should be considered....”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. 657 So. 2d 580 - Degruise v. Houma Courier Newspaper Corp.