Brown v. Loftin’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

2 federal appellate · 12 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 14 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. ““This is a railway accident case in which Miss Nancy Virginia Brown lost her life. She, with three others, occupied the rear seat of the automobile which ran into a freight train consisting of 32 cars then operated by the Florida East Coast Railway Company over a regular street crossing situated on the outskirts of the City of Fort Lauderdale, Florida. The collision occurred around 1:00 o’clock A.M., September 26, 1943. The freight train was in motion and the automobile struck the 17th car back from the engine. * * * “ * * * The absence of signboards, flashlight signals and other warning devices about the railroad crossing are insufficient reasons under the peculiar circumstances of this controversy. If a driver of an automobile fails or omits, when approaching a railroad crossing, to see or observe a moving freight train on a railroad crossing directly in front of the driver of the car and across the highway he is traveling, when the freight train consists of thirty or more cars, then a serious doubt arises and must exist as to whether or not lawfully required signs and signals at such crossing would prove efficacious.””

   3 later decisions quote this exact passage
   e.g. Webster v. CSX Transportation · 53 So. 2d 777 - Goff v. Atlantic Coast Line R. Co.