Rush v. McDonnell’s Empirical Analysis
1925
Citation profile
51 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 53 later decisions — most recently September 2007 · most notably Morgan Hill Paving Co. v. Fonville (1928), Lutfy v. Lockhart (1931)
51 state decisions — followed in 11 states
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 Parker v. Wilson · Watts v. Montgomery Traction Co. · McGeever v. O'Byrne · 107 Ohio St. 501 - Elliott v. Hardins · Perkins v. Galloway
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 53 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“"While automobiles are not inherently regarded as dangerous instrumentalities, and the owner thereof is not responsible for the negligent use of same, except upon the theory of the doctrine of respondeat superior, yet there is an exception if he intrusts it to one, though not an agent or servant, who is so incompetent as to the handling of same as to convert it into a dangerous instrumentality, and the incompetency is known to the owner when permitting the use of the vehicle."”
1 later decision quote this exact passage“"`[I]ncompetence is not confined to downright inability to perform the allotted service. It goes to reliability in all that is essential to make up a reasonably safe person , considering the nature of the work, and the general safety of those . . . [. . . who will be in the line of danger from the operations with which the person is intrusted].'"”
1 later decision quote this exact passage“`Incompetence' comprehends various kinds of unfitness. . . .”
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.