Earle v. State’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

4 district · 15 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 19 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “A civil action brought by any person for recovery of damages for injury suffered as a result of childhood sexual abuse shall be commenced within six years of the act alleged to have caused the injury or condition, or six years of the time the victim discovered that the injury or condition was caused by that act, whichever period expires later.”

   2 later decisions quote this exact passage
   e.g. Turner v. Roman Catholic Diocese · Clarke v. Abate

2. “[Plaintiff, Mark Earle] lived in a trailer with his mother and brother on his grandparents’ farm, across the street from the grandparents’ home. Plaintiff’s mother received counseling and services from SRS to aid her in developing parenting skills. Plaintiff’s grandparents provided foster care to an older boy, N.C., and N.C. was regularly in the company of plaintiff and his brother, sometimes acting as a babysitter. The parties agree that N.C. had no record of sexually abusive behavior prior to plaintiff’s reports. Between December 1980 and April 1982, N.C. sexually abused plaintiff on numerous occasions. In December 1980, plaintiff reported N.C.’s sexual abuse for the first time. He told his mother that N.C. had forced plaintiff to put N.C.’s penis in his mouth. Plaintiff was five years old. Plaintiff’s mother reported the behavior to SRS. The agency confirmed the assaults, but did not remove N.C. from the grandparents’ home. In April 1982, plaintiff, then seven, told his mother he was still being abused by N.C., and that he had recently been anally raped by N.C. Plaintiff’s mother again reported the behavior to SRS. The agency recommended prosecution of N.C. by the Windsor County state’s attorney and began seeking alternative accommodations for N.C. In September 1982, SRS removed N.C. from placement with plaintiff’s grandparents.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. Earle v. State

3. “[T]he date of accrual under the statute of limitations and the date of discovery under the retroactivity provision cannot be equated because they are determined by different acts. The statute of limitations hinges upon “the act alleged to have caused the injury or condition.” In Sabia, we clarified that the word “act” in this context may refer to the alleged act of negligence by a third party.'The act at issue here is SRS’s allegedly negligent failure to prevent N.C. from abusing plaintiff. The cause would not accrue, however, until plaintiff had reason to know that SRS may have been negligent. In contrast, the retroactivity provision hinges upon “the act of sexual abuse or the discovery that the injury or condition was caused by the act of sexual abuse.” The retroactivity provision is triggered only by the act of abuse or the discovery of an injury caused by that abuse.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. Turner v. Roman Catholic Diocese