175 N.J. Super. 263 - Eden v. Conrail’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

1 district · 24 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 25 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “Even as to a trespasser the old common law doctrine that an owner of land owed him no duty of care except to refrain from causing injury to such person by willful or wanton conduct has been modified "so as to put the interest of the parties in better balance." Potter v. Finch & Sons, supra, 76 N.J. [499,] 504, [ 388 A. 2d 614 (1978)]. Especially with respect to instrumentalities possessing a real potential for grievous bodily harm, the standard of duty is the protection of others against an unreasonable risk of that harm. Imre v. Riegel Paper Corp., supra, 24 N.J. [438,] 444, [ 132 A.2d 505 (1957)]. That principle has for years been applied to the benefit of infant trespassers in cases where the trespass has been discovered or where there was reason to anticipate it. Strang v. South Jersey Broadcasting Co., [ supra . ] [ Id. at 462-63, 435 A. 2d 540 (emphasis added) citing Eden v. Conrail, 175 N.J. Super. 263, 279-80 , 418 A. 2d 278 (App.Div. 1980), aff'd 87 N.J. 467 , 435 A. 2d 556 (1981).]”

   2 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Rustay v. Consolidated Rail Corp. · 291 N.J. Super. 608 - Boyd v. Conrail

2. “1. The engineer of the X & Y Railroad Company sees lying upon the track a pile of clothing such as would give a reasonable man cause to suspect that it might contain a human being. Under these circumstances the engineer is not entitled to assume that it is not a human being but is required to keep the engine under control until he is certain that it is not.”

   2 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Rustay v. Consolidated Rail Corp. · Eden v. Conrail

3. “b. Precautions when Possessor’s Activities Highly Dangerous. If the activity which a possessor of land carries on upon it is one which, even though carelessly conducted, is likely to cause only some harm which, though substantial, is less than death or serious bodily harm, the possessor is not required to exercise care for a trespasser’s safety unless he knows of his presence at some point made dangerous by the activity or unless he sees an object or hears a sound which makes him regard the presence of a trespasser as substantially certain or at the least highly probable. On the other hand, the gravity of danger threatened by an activity which, unless carefully carried on, is likely to cause death or serious bodily harm, requires the possessor to exercise reasonable care not only when he knows that a trespasser is at some point made dangerous by it, or is reasonable certain or regards it as highly probable that he is at such a point, but also when he sees an object or hears a sound which causes him to realize that there is a substantial chance that the trespasser may be at such a point. This is in accordance with the tendency of the law not only to require a greater amount of care when life and limb are at stake, than where only some minor harm is likely to occur, but also to extend the duty of protection to persons to whom no duty would be owing if a less serious harm were threatened.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Rustay v. Consolidated Rail Corp.