American Transit Lines v. Smith’s Empirical Analysis
246 F.2d 86 · 1957
Citation profile
16 federal appellate · 1 district · 11 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 32 later decisions — most recently October 2001 · most notably Engelke v. Wheatley (1961), Miller v. United States (1978)
16 federal appellate · 1 district · 11 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 Boggs v. Plybon · Gallagher's Estate v. Battle · Venuto v. Robinson · 52 F. Supp. 488 - Hodges v. Johnson · War Emergency Co-op. Ass'n v. Widenhouse
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 32 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
““In Hodges v. Johnson, supra, [ 52 F.Supp. 488 ,] the injury for which the action was brought was caused by the negligence of an independent contractor. The court held that the employer of the independent contractor was liable, together with the contractor, under Restatement of the Law of Torts, Section 428. The driver of the truck, employee of the independent contractor, had completed his mission and was returning with an empty truck. The court held that, since under its franchise the franchise holder is responsible for the operation of the truck on this mission, it is absurd to say that the responsibility should attach ‘while the truck is proceeding on its journey loaded, and should not attach on the return journey while empty.’ Both the journey and the return journey, the court held, are necessary parts of the same trip and the whole trip was undertaken and was being made under the authority of the franchise. To the same effect see Venuto v. Robinson, 3 Cir., 118 F.2d 679 , in which the injury was inflicted by an independent contractor, but the court held the motor carrier liable for negligence under Section 428. Cf. Liberty Highway Co. v. Callahan, supra, [ 24 Ohio App. 374 , 157 N.E. 708 ] syllabi 1, 2; Marriott v. National Mutual Casualty Co., 10 Cir., 195 F.2d 462 .””
1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majoritye.g. Braden v. Turner““If the motor carrier cannot delegate its responsibility to an independent contractor for the period of delivering the load, neither can it delegate its responsibility for that part of the trip which necessarily must be made after the load is delivered. It is the motor carrier that has put the entire trip in motion. * * * ” (Emphasis ours).”
1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority“which are peculiarly dangerous unless carefully operated.”
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.