O'BRIEN v. Primm’s Empirical Analysis
1967
Citation profile
16 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 16 later decisions — most recently May 2015
16 state decisions
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.
Relationships
Relies on Glidewell, Admin. v. Arkhola Sand Gravel Co. · Hawkins v. Missouri Pacific Railroad · St. Louis Southwestern Railway Company v. Farrell · Turner v. Hot Springs Street Railway Co. · Missouri Pac. Rd. Co. v. Ross, Admr.
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 16 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“Appellants’ oil well, only 550 feet from appellees’ water well, contained an undetermined amount of acid. It was the only known source of acid anywhere near the appellees’ well. This acid was forced out into the earth under tremendous pressure along with, or ahead of, an undetermined amount or volume of fracting material. There is evidence of tremendous vibrations in connection with this operation and some evidence that the ground under the appellees’ house vibrated. So giving to the appellees’ evidence its highest probative value, and taking into account all reasonable inferences that may be deduced from it, the jury could have reasonably concluded that the high acid content of the water in appellees’ well, which had suddenly gone bad following the sand ffact operation, was forced into appellees’ well along with other impurities, from the only known and nearest source, appellants’ oil well.”
1 later decision quote this exact passage“[A] directed verdict for the defendant is proper only when there is no substantial evidence from which the jurors as reasonable men could possibly find the issues for the plaintiff. In such circumstances, the trial judge must give to the plaintiff’s evidence its highest probative value, taking into account all reasonable inferences that may sensibly be deduced from it, and may grant the motion only if the evidence viewed in that light would be so insubstantial as to require him to set aside a verdict for the plaintiff should such a verdict be returned by the jury.”
1 later decision quote this exact passagee.g. Miller v. Tipton“In April 1964, appellants did what is known as a sand fract job on the oil well, and within a week or so following this operation, a change was noted in the quality of the water in appellees’ water well, and the quality of the water rapidly deteriorated until it soon became unfit for human consumption.”
1 later decision quote this exact passage
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.