Nichols v. Nold’s Empirical Analysis
1953
Citation profile
12 federal appellate · 2 district · 88 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 106 later decisions — most recently December 2011 · most notably Henningsen v. Bloomfield Motors, Inc. (1960), Kirkland v. General Motors Corporation (1974)
12 federal appellate · 2 district · 88 state decisions — followed in 18 states
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 MacPherson v. . Buick Motor Co. · 25 Cal. 2d 486 - Ybarra v. Spangard · International Printing Pressmen & Assistants' Union v. Smith · George Foltis, Inc. v. City of New York · Galbraith v. Busch
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 106 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
““Counsel for the appellants Nold and Elsey argue that the doctrine of res ipsa loquitur cannot apply to them because they were not in ‘control’ of the bottle of Pepsi-Cola at the time it exploded, and cite cases holding that one of the essentials of the doctrine is that defendant be in the exclusive control at the time of the accident. Those statements were made in cases in which the circumstances disclosed that the negligence, if any, must have occurred at the time of the accident. The real test is whether defendants were in control at the time of the negligent act or omission which either at that time or later produced the accident. The fact that plaintiff did not know which one of the defendants was guilty of the negligence which was the cause of the accident, or when or where it took place, was the reason for naming all of them as parties defendant.” (1. c. 620.)”
3 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority““But when the contract relied upon is implied, and is simply the fictitious promise which the law infers from the tortious acts themselves, it may be doubted whether it is possible, in accordance with the true principles of the reformed pleading, to frame a complaint or petition in all cases which shall show on its face that the plaintiff has elected to bring his action either in tort or on contract. In one class of liabilities it is certainly possible to do so; namely, in those which result from the defendant’s fraudulent representations and deceits. The allegation of a scienter is indispensable in the action ex delicto based upon such a liability, and distinguishes it in a marked manner from the correlative action based upon the implied promises. But when the liability results from the wrongful taking or conversion of chattels, from trespasses, negligences, or other similar kinds of wrongs, the very facts which are alleged in the action of tort are the facts from which the promise is inferred; and, according to the true theory of pleading, these facts must also be stated in the action ex contractu, without any legal inferences or conclusions. It conclusively follows, that in this general class of liabilities, as the facts which constitute the cause of action are the same in each, the averments of the complaint or petition must be the same in each kind of action, if the essential principles of the reformed system are complied with, so that it is impossible to indicate upon t”
1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority““Under these decisions it must be held that in any case where a dealer sells articles of food for immediate human consumption, the purchaser may rely upon an implied warranty that such articles are wholesome and not deleterious, and in the event he sustains injuries from their use, he may waive any tort there may have been and maintain his cause of action upon such implied warranty. We are of the opinion, too, that such warranty is not limited to the immediate seller. While some authorities may be found holding that as between the manufacturer or packer and the ultimate consumer there is no privity of contract, and therefore the injured consumer may not maintain an action, the weight of authority is to the contrary. Assuming that such an action may be maintained, it seems illogical to hold that the injured consumer might maintain an action against the immediate seller or the manufacturer or packer, but not against the intermediate purchaser and sellers of the articles of the food. To so hold would mean that if the immediate seller were financially irresponsible, and the packer, for instances, were located in a foreign country, the injured consumer would, from a practical standpoint, be without remedy. And it might be that by the time the articles were finally sold to a consumer, any right of action he might have against the manufacturer or packer would be barred by the statute of limitations. We think the rule of intermediate liability stated in the Challis case, supra, (See ”
1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
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.