Sachs v. Hoffman’s Empirical Analysis
1983
Citation profile
1 federal appellate · 6 state decisions
Relationships
Relies on Barnes v. Graham Virginia Quarries, Inc. · National Energy Corp. v. O'QUINN · Smith v. Pittston Company · Hale v. Fawcett · Pebble Building Co. v. G. J. Hopkins, Inc.
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 7 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“When damages are occasioned by a combination of causes originating from different sources, the jury must determine from the evidence the part attributable to the defendant and the part traceable to other causes. And while absolute certainty in the proof of damages in such a case is not attainable and is not required, the burden is on the plaintiff to produce evidence to show within a reasonable degree of certainty the defendant’s share of the damage.”
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.