149 W. Va. 65 - Nesbitt v. Flaccus’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

63 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 65 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “". . . No party may assign as error the giving or the refusal to give an instruction unless he objects thereto before the arguments to the jury are begun, stating distinctly, as to any given instruction, the matter to which he objects and the grounds of his objection; . . ."”

   2 later decisions quote this exact passage
   e.g. 178 W. Va. 717 - Dawson v. Casey · 160 W. Va. 113 - Earp v. Vanderpool

2. “The Court instructs to the juty that if you find from a preponderance of the evidence in this case that the Defendant failed to exercise such care and caution as an ordinary, prudent and reasonable person would have exercised in the same or similar circumstances, conditions and surroundings; and if you further believe from a preponderance of the evidence in this case that Plaintiffs failure to exercise ordinary care proximately contributed to her injuries, then you may find that the Plaintiff is guilty of contributory negligence, and then you must perform a further task. Under West Virginia law, if a Plaintiff is guilty of contributory negligence which proximately caused or contributed to the Plaintiffs injuries, and if a Defendant is guilty of negligence which also caused or contributed thereto, then the jury must apportion their respective negligence, that is to compare percentage-wise the contributory negligence of the Plaintiff to the negligence of the Defendant and assign a percentage figure to their negligence and contributory negligence. The sum of negligence of all the parties to a given accidentcannot [sic] exceed 100%. If you find from a preponderance of the evidence after having assigned a proportion or degree of total negligence, if any, among the parties, that the Plaintiff was herself guilty of contributory negligence which proximately caused or contributed to her injuries, and that such negligence or fault on the part of the Plaintiff eq-ualled [sic] or exceede”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. Walters v. Fruth Pharmacy, Inc.

3. ““The Court instructs the Jury that if you believe, by a preponderance of the evidence, that the defendant’s power lines at the place of death which occurred in this case, were negligently and carelessly placed and/or maintained by the defendant, The Potomac Edison Company of West Virginia, in a dangerous and defective condition on July 26, 1967; that the defendant had notice of that condition, or by the exercise of reasonable care should have known of said condition; and that as the proximate result of the negligence or carelessness of the defendant, the plaintiff’s decedent, Daniel K. Lancaster, came into contact with said power lines and was electrocuted, you should find for the plaintiff, unless you further find that the decedent, Daniel K. Lancaster, was guilty of negligence which proximately contributed thereto, or assumed the risk in climbing to the place where the wires were located, and remaining there to paint the roof.””

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. 156 W. Va. 218 - Lancaster v. Potomac Edison Co. of West Virginia