144 Ind. App. 576 - Barelli v. Levin’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

2 federal appellate · 14 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 16 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “Wives contemplating divorce are often distraught and without experience in negotiating contracts. Should contingent fee contracts between them and the attorneys they employ under such conditions become the usual fee arrangement, charges of overreaching and undue influence will be all too frequent. The public, the legal profession, and the bench would all suffer. We believe all will benefit by maintaining the present public policy of not enforcing such contracts no matter how freely and fairly entered into and how reasonable may be the fee thereby produced. The wise discretion of capable and experienced trial judges (aided by the evidence placed before them by the parties prior to the time the court fixes the fee to be paid by the husband) can be relied upon to assure every attorney an adequate fee and thus assure every wife adequate representation.”

   2 later decisions quote this exact passage
   e.g. 70 N.C. App. 147 - Thompson v. Thompson · 81 N.C. App. 27 - In Re Foreclosure of Deed of Trust From Cooper

2. “It may well be that a majority of the general public is no longer concerned with whether divorces are socially desirable or undesirable, or whether contracts that are designed to facilitate or promote the granting of divorces are valid. We are not yet ready to say, however, that it is no longer the public policy of the State of Indiana to discourage divorces and to condemn contracts which discourage reconciliations and provide incentives to attorneys to obtain divorces.”

   2 later decisions quote this exact passage
   e.g. 70 N.C. App. 147 - Thompson v. Thompson · Avant v. Whitten

3. “'The provision in this contract relating to the payment of attorneys' fees is sufficient in itself to condemn the contract as a whole. The law does not sanction or uphold contracts intended to promote divorce, and contracts of that kind are held void against public policy. Any contract intended to or calculated to facilitate the obtaining of a divorce or to promote the dissolution of the marriage relation is illegal and void. A contract and deed of trust containing a stipulation that a divorce will be procured for the wife at her costs is void. Rowe v. Young (1916), 123 Ark. 303 , 185 S.W. 438 . An agreement by a woman to pay her attorney any part of the alimony recovered in a suit against her husband for divorce is against public policy and void. McConnell v. McConnell (1911), 98 Ark. 193 , 136 S.W. 931 , 33 L.R.A.,N.S., 1074; ...”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. Meyers v. Handlon