Rickman v. Commonwealth’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

15 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 15 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “the right-result- different -reason doctrine,”

   2 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the dissent
   e.g. Smith v. Commonwealth · Parker v. Carilion Clinic

2. “[T]he use of the term 'shall' in a statute is generally construed as directory rather than mandatory, and, consequently, no specific, exclusive remedy applies unless the statute manifests a contrary intent.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the dissent
   e.g. Dwyer v. Town of Culpeper (ORDER)

3. “presume that the legislature chose, with care, the words it used when it enacted the relevant statute.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the dissent
   e.g. In Re: Brown