Huggins v. Broom’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

5 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 7 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “The only showing made to qualify this witness as an expert, one qualified to express an opinion from what was shown by the physical facts as photographed, was that he had been taking pictures or photographing wreck scenes for ten years. He was and is, no doubt, an expert photographer, but was in no better position to express an opinion on the manner in which a marking was made than any other average citizen. It would be just as consistent to say that a highway patrolman who visits the scenes of wrecks with great frequency, could, after testifying to the physical facts appearing as observed by him, then give his opinion as to which car made certain markings, and whose negligence caused the wreck. This is the class of matter of which every person of the ordinary fortunes of life would be just as competent to hold and express an opinion as one who photographs a large number of wreck scenes. Expert or opinion evidence is permissible, and quite often necessary, but on matters for which all the materials for judgment are already before the jury, and no special skill or experience is necessary in order to reach a conclusion, and more than one reasonable inference may be indulged in, and especially where the witness is not shown to have had any training or experience different from Mr. Average Citizen, then opinion evidence is properly excluded as superfluity, if for no other reason.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Elek v. Boyce