McFall v. Tooke’s Empirical Analysis
308 F.2d 617 · 1962
Citation profile
10 federal appellate · 2 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 15 later decisions — most recently April 1984
10 federal appellate · 2 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 Dixon v. Stringer · Whittaker v. Thornberry · Lehman v. Patterson · Swift & Co. v. Thompson's Adm'r · Saddler v. Parham
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.
“§ 479. Last Clear Chance: Helpless Plaintiff. A plaintiff who has negligently subjected himself to a risk of harm from the defendant’s subsequent negligence may recover for harm caused thereby if, immediately preceding the harm, (a) the plaintiff is unable to avoid it by the exercise of reasonable vigilance and care, and (b) the defendant is negligent in failing to utilize with reasonable care and competence his then existing opportunity to avoid the harm, when he (i) knows of the plaintiffs situation and realizes or has reason to realize the peril involved in it or (ii) would discover the situation and thus have reason to realize the peril, if he were to exercise the vigilance which it is then his duty to the plaintiff to exercise. § 480. Last Clear Chance: Inattentive Plaintiff. A plaintiff who, by the exercise of reasonable vigilance, could discover the danger created by the defendant’s negligence in time to avoid the harm to him, can recover if, but only if, the defendant (a) knows of the plaintiff’s situation, and (b) realizes or has reason to realize that the plaintiff is inattentive and therefore unlikely to discover his peril in time to avoid the harm, and (c) thereafter is negligent in failing to utilize with reasonable care and competence his then existing opportunity to avoid the harm.”
2 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority““The doctrine of last clear chance has been described as a doctrine ‘as to the basis or extent of which there has been little agreement and endless discussion * * *.’ Prosser, Handbook of the Law of Torts, § 52, p. 291 (2d Ed., 1955).””
1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majoritye.g. Butts v. Wright
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.