235 Mo. App. 348 - Oldham v. McKay’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

12 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 12 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. ““While, as a general rule, a plaintiff who prevails in an equity suit is entitled to have his costs, nevertheless, it is uniformly held that in an equity case a court has a rather broad discretion in determining who shall bear the burden of costs. This is particularly true where there are several issues, and some are found in favor of plaintiff and some in favor of the defendant. A trial court’s determination of this question will not be disturbed by an appellate court, short of an abuse of discretion.... We think it an equally sound and well recognized rule that while this discretion is reasonably broad, it does not contemplate arbitrary or capricious action. It is a legal discretion that must be guided by sound equitable principles considered in the light of the facts of each particular case. The result, in an assessment of costs wherein the general rule is departed from, when examined in the light of all the circumstances, must embody some [justification in equity and good conscience, otherwise there is a manifest abuse of discretion which warrants the intervention of an appellate court.” (Citations omitted.)”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. Sadowski v. Brewer