Smith v. Rawlins’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

55 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 55 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. ““Accepting plaintiff’s evidence as true * * * * * * * it permits a legitimate inference by a jury that defendant was following plaintiff’s automobile ahead more closely than was reasonable and prudent, with regard for the safety of others and due regard to the speed of such vehicles ahead and the traffic upon and the condition of the highway, or was not keeping a reasonably careful lookout considering the conditions then and there existing, so as to avoid collision with plaintiff’s automobile ahead, and that such negligence proximately contributed to plaintiff’s injuries and damage to his automobile. 10 Blashfield Cyclopedia of Automobile Law and Practice, Per. Ed., Vol. 10, p. 600, says: ‘The mere fact of a collision with a vehicle ahead furnishes some evidence that the following motorist was negligent as to speed or was following too closely.’ ””

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. Huggins v. Kye