Berger v. Berger’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

18 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 18 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. ““In each of these cases it was held that the indebtedness should be paid from the proceeds of the assigned insurance policy rather than from the estate, since from the facts it appeared that such was the intent of the insured. In the Froman case the assignment provided that no person interested in the policy should, by reason of the application of the proceeds of the policy to the indebtedness secured by the assignment, have the right to contribution or reimbursement from any other party or be subrogated to the right of the assignee in any other collateral. No such provision is found in the assignment here involved. In the Kash and Berger cases the mortgage contained a clause providing ‘if said policy of insurance be still in force, the indebtedness secured hereby shall become immediately due and payable upon the death of the insured, and the [creditor] shall apply toward the payment thereof the amount due from it under the terms of said policy and pay over the balance, if any, to such person or persons as may be legally entitled thereto.’ * * * In each of these cases the court said that the language of the mortgage was broad enough to convey the intention of the insured and to establish his and the creditor’s agreement that in the event of his death the creditor was to utilize the proceeds of the policy for the payment of decedent’s debt before resorting to the enforcement of the mortgage. Neither of the mortgages here involved contains any mention of the insurance policies.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. Murnane v. Murnane