Eckman v. Baker’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

9 federal appellate · 1 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 19 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. ““Many states have nonresident motorist statutes. Although all these statutes are not identical, they all have the same primary purpose. It is to afford to local residents access to local courts for suits against nonresident tort-feasors, thereby giving the local residents an opportunity to bring a suit which they could not or would not do otherwise because of the many practical, financial, and geographical obstacles. “A construction of the statute that limits the word ‘operator’ to ‘driver’ would mean that the legislature intended to allow substituted service upon some tortfeasors but not others. “Assuming the facts of the complaint to be true, as we must, defendant Baker is just as liable as a tortfeasor as the driver Heftye. It seems clear to us that to fulfill the legislative policy, the term ‘operator’ must be construed to include one such as Baker who neither owned nor drove the accident car but was responsible for its presence on the highways of Pennsylvania. “The rule of construction in our situation is to give effect to the will of the legislature, and there is no evidence that the legislature intended to discriminate in favor of any class of nonresident tortfeasors who through the operation of a motor vehicle in Pennsylvania become legally responsible to Pennsylvania citizens. * * * ””

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Care v. Fox Deluxe Foods, Inc.