Botchie v. O'DOWD’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

9 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 9 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “The constitutional actual malice standard requires a public official to prove by clear and convincing evidence that the defamatory falsehood was made with the knowledge of its falsity or with reckless disregard for its truth. A “reckless disregard for the truth, however, requires more than a departure from reasonable prudent conduct.” There must be sufficient evidence to permit the conclusion that the defendant in fact entertained serious doubt as to the truth of his publication. There must be evidence the defendant had a “high degree of awareness of ... probable falsity.””

   2 later decisions quote this exact passage
   e.g. Elder v. Gaffney Ledger · Fleming v. Rose