Holt v. Stollenwerck’s Empirical Analysis
1911
Citation profile
5 federal appellate · 60 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 75 later decisions — most recently April 2020 · most notably Breed v. Atlanta, B. C. R. Co. (1941), Hatas v. Partin (1965)
5 federal appellate · 60 state decisions
Later decisions citing this case, by decade. The current decade is in progress, and our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so the latest bars are undercounted — not a real decline.
Relationships
Relies on White v. Ward · Gibson v. Gibson
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 75 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“The right to prosecute an action for the wrongful death of his decedent is vested by the statute creating the right (Code, § 2486) in the personal representative for a definite legislative purpose, to prevent homicide. In prosecuting such action, the personal representative does not act strictly in his capacity as administrator of the estate of his decedent, because he is not proceeding to reduce to possession the estate of his decedent, but rather he is asserting a right arising after his death, and because the damages recovered are not subject to the payment of the debts or liabilities of the decedent. He acts rather as an agent of legislative appointment for the effectuation of the legislative policy, and upon recovery as a quasi trustee for those who stand in the relation of distributees to the estate strictly so called. White v. Ward, 157 Ala. 345 , 47 So. 166 , 18 L.R.A., N.S., 568. And the right is vested in the personal representative alone.”
1 later decision quote this exact passage“The gist of the argument is that Mrs. Holt's interest in the cause of action arising out of the death of her first husband became a part of the property of her estate. . . . [W]e state our conclusion that the mere right to sue for damages conferred by section 2486 of the Code, is not property, within the meaning of the statutes of distribution.”
1 later decision quote this exact passagee.g. Lowe v. Fulford“Our conclusion is that, whatever may have been the case if judgment had been recovered prior to the death of Mrs. Holt, under the facts shown, the probate court correctly adjudged the appellant to be without right in the premises.”
1 later decision quote this exact passagee.g. Lowe v. Fulford
How this case has been treated — in progress
Whether each later court followed, distinguished, criticized, or overruled this decision. The treatment classification (task #35) runs highest-cited cases first and lights up here as it reaches this one.