Rutkowski v. Wasko’s Empirical Analysis
1955
Citation profile
2 federal appellate · 19 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 22 later decisions — most recently April 2021
2 federal appellate · 19 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 Roller v. Roller · Mesite v. Kirchenstein · McKelvey v. McKelvey · Rozell v. Rozell · Rambo v. Rambo
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 22 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
““An unemancipated minor is barred from maintaining an action against his parent for damages for personal injuries arising from simple negligence. This is the majority rule. * * * “If a stepfather has voluntarily assumed all the obligations and beneficent attitudes of a natural parent toward an unemanci-pated minor child, it is difficult to understand why he should be denied any of the immunities from suit accorded for reasons of public policy to a natural parent. * * “Clearly, the interests of society require peace and discipline in a home presided over by a faithful and devoted stepparent as well as in a natural home. * * * ””
1 later decision quote this exact passagee.g. Wooden v. Hale““A stepfather who furnishes a bed and provides bread for a minor son of his wife by a former marriage and who exercises some control over him does not by these acts alone establish a parental relationship. . . . The relationship should be found to exist only if the facts and circumstances show that the stepparent means to take the place of the lawful father not only in providing support but also with reference to the natural father’s office of educating and instructing and caring for the general welfare of the child.””
1 later decision quote this exact passage“No good reason appears why the rule should be applied in the case of a parent and not in the case of one standing completely in loco parentis. If the foundations for its application are sound in the one instance, they must be equally so in the other, and there is no justification for refusing to apply it to a stepparent who actually exercises all the parental prerogatives and who discharges all the parental obligations.”
1 later decision quote this exact passagee.g. Zellmer v. Zellmer
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.