Commonwealth v. Allias’s Empirical Analysis
1975
Citation profile
9 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 9 later decisions — most recently October 2005
9 state decisions
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 Romberger v. Romberger · Triolo v. Philadelphia Coca Cola Bottling Co. · Wilkinsburg Boro. v. School District · Broch v. Lehigh Valley Coal Co. · Frankel v. Donehoo (Nesbitt)
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 9 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“Allias failed to file an answer to the complaint served on July 24, 1973, and on September 13, 1973, DER filed a praecipe for entry of a default judgment which was entered that same day. DER, in accord with Rule 1511(b) of the Pennsylvania Rules of Civil Procedure, 12 P.S. Appendix, requested the Court of Common Pleas of Westmoreland County to enter an appropriate final decree. The lower court set a hearing for October 26, 1973, ostensibly to take testimony to assist it in framing a final decree. However, at the hearing the lower court entertained testimony as to the merits of DER’s complaint. On December 28, 1973, the lower court filed a decree nisi opening the default judgment sua sponte and dismissing DER’s complaint in equity for failure to plead and prove a cause of action under the Water Obstructions Act____ It is well settled that a petition to open a judgment is an appeal to the court’s discretion and that this discretion may properly be exercised to grant such a petition if (1) the petition is promptly filed, (2) a defense is shown to exist on the merits, and (3) the default is reasonably explained or excused. Triolo v. Philadelphia Coca Cola Bottling Co., 440 Pa. 164 , 270 A.2d 620 (1970). Here Allias did not present a petition but the lower court sua sponte opened judgment. Perhaps the lower court was satisfied that Allias possessed a defense on the merits which justified the opening of the judgment. However, central to the problem is the requirement that a default”
2 later decisions quote this exact passage
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.