Bartley v. Phillips’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

5 federal appellate · 1 district · 248 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 254 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “[A]n award of damages must stand unless ... to permit it to stand was an abuse of discretion on the part of the court below, amounting to an error of law.”

   2 later decisions quote this exact passage
   e.g. 93 Mass. App. Ct. 661 - Larkin v. Dedham Medical Associates, Inc. · 57 Mass. App. Dec. 30 - Markham Co. Tracers, Inc. v. Issner

2. “influenced by passion, partiality, prejudice or corruption.”

   2 later decisions quote this exact passage
   e.g. 93 Mass. App. Ct. 661 - Larkin v. Dedham Medical Associates, Inc. · 93 Mass. App. Ct. 332 - Dubuque v. Cumberland Farms, Inc.

3. “"In this court as an appellate tribunal an award of damages must stand unless to make it or to permit to to stand was an abuse of discretion on the part of the court below amounting to an error of law . . . (cases cited). An 'abuse of discretion’ consists of judicial action (that no conscientious judge, acting intelligently, could honestly have taken . . .’ (cases cited). The exercise of discretion, where discretion exists, is not subject to appelate review on a report from a District Court or on exceptions. Only where a question ordinarily discretionary is so clear that discretion is superseded by imperative legal duty can the result be revised . . . (cases cited). 'The field of discretion of the trial judge in these matters is very broad. Only in rare instances can it be ruled that there has been an abuse of discretion amounting to error of law . . .’ (cases cited)””

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. 59 Mass. App. Dec. 150 - Telles v. Macedo