189 So. 2d 12 - Shively v. Hare’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

8 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 8 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. ““We find from our careful and painstaking search of the jurisprudence of this state that a motorist traveling a main highway at night, in the absence of weather, road or traffic conditions which serve to warn one of the necessity of restricted movement, may assume that the road ahead is free of obstructions and unusual objects and that it is open and unrestricted for travel. We find it is equally well settled that an unlighted vehicle, either moving, stopped or parked upon the highway at night is an unusual and unexpected obstruction.””

   2 later decisions quote this exact passage
   e.g. Lobell v. American Indemnity Co. · 253 So. 2d 677 - Bordelon v. State ex rel. Department of Highways

2. “The rule that a motorist traveling on the public highways after dark or during a rainstorm, fog, or other abnormal condition, which prevents him seeing ahead, except imperfectly, and for a short time and distance, must guard against striking objects in the road with which he may be suddenly confronted, constitutes an exception to the general rule that a motorist may assume that the road is safe for travel even at night. But that exception to the general rule is itself subject to the exception that a motorist traveling by night is not charged with the duty of guarding against striking an unexpected or unusual obstruction, which he had no reason to anticipate he would encounter on the highway.”

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

3. ““A long line of jurisprudence has developed which several writers have referred to as ‘the erosion of the assured clear distance rule’. The thrust of this jurisprudence is a continuous departure from the rule that a night motorist must drive with such meticulous care that he can bring his vehicle to a complete stop within the range of vision afforded by his headlights.””

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. 223 So. 2d 461 - Day v. Allstate Insurance Co.