Covington v. Carley’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

25 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. “`wantonness is a failure or refusal to exercise any care, while negligence is a failure to exercise due care.'”

   6 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Curtis v. Mississippi State Highway Commission · 768 So. 2d 906 - Maldonado v. Kelly

2. ““* * * we do not mean to lay down an arbitrary rule that one who by falling asleep at the wheel of an automobile injures a guest, may in no event be guilty of ‘wanton misconduct’. Even as the deliberate shutting of one’s eyes to conscious peril figuratively typifies wantonness or recklessness, so the literal act of closing one’s eyes in sleep is equally typical of unconscious action. Yet it is not the act of_ falling asleep that is under scrutiny, but conduct in driving while beset with drowsiness which portends complete incapacity and reasonably certain casualty. Unless such act is portrayed against a background of prior experience or otherwise made so reasonably certain as to constitute mere drowsiness a recognizable and recognized harbinger of imminent disaster, it does not confront a driver with a present and envisaged calamity which he either deliberately achieves or wantonly ignores. The act or omission must, under the statute, be more than that of mere inadvertence or momentary thoughtlessness.””

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. 151 Ind. App. 312 - Brooks v. Bloom

3. “Where the misconduct is wilful, there is an intentional injury. If it is wanton, there is an intentional and wrongful act or omission whose resultant harm is consciously previsioned and recklessly ignored or disregarded. * * * Hence wantonness characterizes a mental state aware of misconduct and indifferent to its obvious consequences. Weir v. Lukes, 13 Cal. App.2d 312 , 56 P.2d 987 . More than this it is projected forward to and qualifies the ultimate injury, lending to it color of a gross and unconcerned willingness which, in its moral and legal aspects, is indistinguishable from intent. * * * ( 197 Miss. at 542-543 , 19 So.2d at 818-819 .)”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. 196 So. 2d 365 - Browning v. Shackelford