Williams v. Nichols’s Empirical Analysis
266 F.2d 389 · 1959
Citation profile
47 federal appellate · 7 district · 3 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 83 later decisions — most recently October 2014 · most notably Wyatt v. Interstate & Ocean Transport Co. (1980), Ellis v. International Playtex, Inc. (1984)
47 federal appellate · 7 district · 3 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 Ætna Casualty & Surety Co. v. Yeatts · Botta v. Brunner · Felton v. Spiro · Garrison v. United States · Chesapeake & Ohio Railway Co. v. Carnahan
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 83 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“a trial judge has a duty to set aside a verdict and grant a new trial even though it is supported by substantial evidence, 'if he is of the opinion that the verdict is against the clear weight of the evidence or is based upon evidence which is false or will result in a miscarriage of justice....'”
12 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority““There is no sound reason why the jury should be informed, either by counsel or the Court, of the damages named in the complaint. It is a matter of common knowledge that ordinarily in a tort case, the damages laid in the complaint are in an amount arbitrarily chosen, greatly exaggerated, and having little, if any, value as a measurement of the damage actually suffered. It is being charitable to say that at best they represent the plaintiff’s own opinion of what damage he has suffered. But neither the plaintiff nor anyone else would be allowed to go on the witness stand and testify as to his monetary estimate of the plaintiff’s damages. This being so it is certainly objectionable to get the same estimate before the jury by the unsworn statements of counsel in the course of argument. It is even more harmful, because of the greater weight given it by the jury, when it comes from the bench in the Court’s instructions. The basic evil is that it gives the jury the impression that the amount sued for (the plaintiff’s own estimate) is significant and to be considered as a factor in arriving at such award as the jury may make.””
2 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“Thus, the case should be examined, not in the light most favorable to the plaintiff, but according to the analysis and appraisal by the trial court of the weight of all the evidence considering also any other relevant factors. Williams v. Nichols, 266 F.2d 389, 393 (4th Cir. 1959).”
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.