Madison v. Pierce’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

31 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 35 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “"The broad purpose of the Montana Workmen’s Compensation Act is to substitute a system for the payment of medical costs and wage losses to injured employees without regard to fault, for the common law system of legal action by the injured employee against the one whose negligence proximately caused his injury. The principle behind this legislation was that the business enterprise or industry should directly bear the costs of injury to its employees in the same manner as the enterprise has always borne the costs of maintaining and repairing its plant, machinery and equipment. * * * If [the Act] were construed to withhold immunity to a coemployee from a negligence action, the cost of injury to an employee of the business would be shifted from the employer, where the Act places it, to a fellow employee, where the Act does not place it. It also would defeat the ultimate payment of injury cost by the public purchasing the product. *** We cannot believe the legislature intended to permit the ultimate costs of employee injury to be borne by fellow employees, whether negligent or not. It would be a sad spectacle, indeed, for a workman to find his home taken and his future earnings subjected to payment of a judgment in such a suit.” Madison, 156 Mont. at 213-15 , 478 P.2d at 863-64 .”

   5 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. McCluskey v. Thompson · 175 Ill. 2d 218 - Ramsey v. Morrison

2. “Plaintiff's third argument is that the Workmen's Compensation Act, being in derogation of common law, should be strictly construed to permit plaintiff's suit in the instant case. We accept the rule that statutes eliminating common law rights should be strictly construed. But where, as here, common law rights cannot be preserved within the structure of the statutory Workmen's Compensation Act and the purpose of such Act cannot be fulfilled without their elimination, it is apparent that the legislature eliminated such common law rights by implication, if not by express language. Our Act and the common law right to sue a fellow employee cannot coexist, so the latter must give way. ( 478 P.2d at 865 ).”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. McCluskey v. Thompson

3. “[I]njury costs are not subject to being shifted around among the members of the enterprise, i.e., employer, employee, and co-employee, but remain solely the obligation of the employer.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Sherner v. Conoco Inc.