McCaskill Company v. United States’s Empirical Analysis
216 U.S. 504 · 1910
Citation profile
96 federal appellate · 24 district · 72 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 250 later decisions (14 by the Supreme Court) — most recently October 2013 · most notably Curtis, Collins & Holbrook Co. v. United States (1923), Commonwealth v. Beneficial Finance Company (1971)
96 federal appellate · 24 district · 72 state decisions — followed in 19 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.
Appellate journey
reviewedthe decision below (from Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals)
Relationships
Relies on United States v. Throckmorton · United States v. San Jacinto Tin Co. · United States v. Beebe · United States v. American Bell Telephone Co. · Simmons Creek Coal Co. v. Doran
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 250 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
““A growing tendency is therefore exhibited in the courts to look beyond the corporate form to the purpose of it, and to the officers who are identified with that purpose” — citing Cook on Corporations, §§ 668, 664, in which it is said: “The disabilities of the corporation are not disabilities of the stockholders, nor are the disabilities of the stockholders the disabilities of the corporation. Hence it is that a corporation is often organized to act as a cloak for fraud. Such cases as these are becoming common, and the courts are becoming more and more inclined to ignore the corporate existence when necessary in order to circumvent fraud.””
11 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“The purpose of the testimony of other transactions, counsel say, was `to show a systematic course of dealing by McCaskill, such as would support a contention that he had guilty knowledge of whatever fraud might exist in the procurement of the patent in litigation.' It is admitted that the testimony was competent for such purpose, but it is contended it should have been accompanied by evidence showing that such other transactions were false and fraudulent, and this, it is insisted, was not done. If so, the testimony was harmless. In other words, if the testimony was not followed up by other testimony which was necessary to give it effect, we may assume that the court below gave to it no value or probative strength. It must be kept in mind that the case was tried by the court.”
1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
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.