Berkey v. Delia’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

2 district · 277 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 281 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. ““ ‘The requirement of ‘clear and convincing’ or ‘satisfactory’ evidence does not call for ‘unanswerable’ or ‘conclusive’ evidence. The quality of proof, to be clear and convincing, has also been said to be somewhere between the rule in ordinary civil cases and the requirement of criminal procedure — that is, it must be more than a mere preponderance but not beyond a reasonable doubt. It has also been said that the term ‘clear and convincing’ evidence means that the witness to a fact must be found to be credible, and that the facts to which they have testified are distinctly remembered and the details thereof narrated exactly and in due order, so as to enable the trier of the facts to come to a clear conviction, without hesitancy, of the truth of the precise facts in issue. Whether evidence is clear and convincing requires weighing, comparing, testing, and judging its worth when considered in connection with all the facts and circumstances in evidence.’ ””

   8 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Attorney Grievance Commission v. Harris · Attorney Grievance Commission v. Mooney

2. “[t]he purpose of a hearing on a motion for summary judgment at the trial level is not to try the case on its merits, but rather to decide whether any real dispute as to material facts exists. ... If the pleadings, depositions, admissions, and affidavits (if any) show that there is no genuine dispute as to any material fact and that the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law, then summary judgment should be granted. . . . Conversely, if there is a genuine dispute as to any material fact, summary judgment would not properly be granted. . .. An appellate court, in reviewing a motion for summary judgment, should be concerned primarily with deciding whether or not a factual issue exists, and in this regard, all inferences should be resolved against the party making the motion. [Id. at 254-55 (citations omitted).]”

   4 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Keesling v. State · L & H Enterprises, Inc. v. Allied Building Products Corp.

3. “It is apparent that Berkey regards Delia’s “behavior as abnormally cruel and inhumane, rude and insensitive, threatening and punitive” upon the basis of his own observation of this incident. If the trier of fact were to determine that Berkey spoke a calculated untruth in giving his version of the incident, the version which is the basis for Berkey’s conclusion relative to Delia’s mental condition, then a trier of fact could conclude that Berkey spoke with reckless disregard for the truth when he used the adjectives which he did to characterize Delia’s behavior on this occasion.”

   2 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. 72 Md. App. 391 - Hughley v. McDermott · 116 Md. App. 301 - Peroutka v. Streng