Belfonte v. Miller’s Empirical Analysis
1968
Citation profile
24 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 30 later decisions — most recently August 2019 · most notably New England Telephone & Telegraph Co. v. Board of Assessors (1984), Swafford v. Harris (1998)
24 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 Richette v. Pennsylvania Railroad · Jamison Coal & Coke Co. v. Goltra · Ames v. Hillside Coal & Iron Co. · Norden v. Metson · Wimer v. Overseers of the Poor
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 30 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
““ . . . The difficulties and dangers which surround so-called expert testimony are well understood by the profession and it is the manifest duty of our courts to carefully scan all special contracts relating to the employment of experts, providing for the payment of special compensation in addition to the witness fees allowed by law. * * * * * * The rule applied to such contracts is not to be affected by proof that the behavior •of the parties was in fact exemplary, for it is the tendency of such contracts which serves to generate their undesirability. Improper conduct or bias can be predicted easily when the compensation •of the witness is directly related to the absolute amount of an award which may in turn be dependent to a great degree on the testimony of that same witness. ...” 243 A.2d at 153 .”
1 later decision quote this exact passage“It is scarcely necessary to cite authority for the proposition that the law having fixed the amount to be paid witnesses for their attendance upon court, a special contract to pay more than the regular witness fees in ordinary cases is void for want of consideration And as being against public policy.... The difficulties and dangers which surround so-called expert téstimony are well understood by the profession and it is the manifest duty of our courts to carefully scan all special contracts relating to the employment of experts, providing for the payment of special compensation in addition to the witness fees allowed by law.”
1 later decision quote this exact passage“bargain by a stranger with a party to a suit, by which such third person undertakes to carry on the litigation at his own cost and risk, in consideration of receiving, if successful, a part of the proceeds or subject to be recovered.”
1 later decision 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.