Mooney v. Olsen’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

1 federal appellate · 23 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 26 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. ““The testatrix was, at the time of making the will, very much debilitated from loss of blood, and was in what the attendant physician called a semi-comatose state. The preparation of the will lasted some hours, although, when written, the instrument itself fills scarcely a page. As she roused from a state of stupor, she was asked to whom she wished to give certain property, and her answer noted. It would seem as though, after nearly every answer, she became insensible, and was rallied only by the use of stimulants. When her answers had all been noted in this way, the will was placed in form, and her signature affixed, though she was so weak that, after writing her first name, she swooned, and had to be rallied again by the use of restoratives before finishing her signature. Of course, there will always be a doubt whether a will executed under such circumstances really expresses the deliberate purpose and desire of a testator in the distribution of his property; yet mere feebleness and weakness like hers do not, of themselves, prove fraud or undue influence —they merely show a condition easily accessible to undue influence. The power of resistance is weakened, and the mind yields to fear or pressure which ordinarily would make no impression.” (p. 74.)”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Hoff v. Hoff

2. ““The question of undue influence is one of peculiar character; it does not arise until after the death of the one who alone fully knows the influences which have produced the instrument; it does not touch the outward act, the form of the instrument, the signature, the acknowledgment ; it enters the shadowy land of the mind in search of its condition and processes. Was the mind strong or weak—clear of comprehension or only feebly grasping the facts suggested? Was the will resolute and firm, or enfeebled by disease and bodily weakness ? What prompted the making of the will? Was it the thought of the testatrix, or the suggestion of interested parties? What influences were brought to bear to secure its execution, or the disposition of any specific property? These are inquiries always difficult of solution, often made more so by the fact that .the parties most competent to give information are the ones most interested to withhold it.” (Mooney v. Olsen, 22 Kan. 69, 75 .)”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Ginter v. Ginter