United States ex rel. Tennessee Valley Authority v. Powelson’s Empirical Analysis
319 U.S. 266 · 1943
Citation profile
369 federal appellate · 62 district · 148 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 1,061 later decisions (56 by the Supreme Court) — most recently June 2021 · most notably United States v. Causby (1946), Kaiser Aetna v. United States (1979)
369 federal appellate · 62 district · 148 state decisions — followed in 30 states
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.
Appellate journey
reviewedUnited States ex rel. Tennessee Valley Authority v. Powelson (from Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals)
Relationships
Relies on United States v. Miller · Chicago Co v. City of Chicago · Olson v. United States · Simpson v. Shepard · Trustees of Dartmouth College v. Woodward
Cited together with United States v. Miller · Olson v. United States · Kimball Laundry Co. v. United States · United States v. General Motors Corp. · Mitchell v. United States
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 1,061 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“. . [N]ot all losses suffered by the owner are compensable under the Fifth Amendment. In absence of a statutory mandate . . . the sovereign must pay only for what it takes, not for opportunities which the owner may lose.”
13 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“An owner of lands sought to be condemned is entitled to their `market value fairly determined.' United States v. Miller, 317 U.S. 369 , 374, 63 S.Ct. 276, 87 L.Ed. 336. That value may reflect not only the use to which the property is presently devoted but also that use to which it may be readily converted [citing cases]. In that connection the value may be determined in light of the special or higher use of the land when combined with other parcels; it need not be measured merely by the use to which the land is or can be put as a separate tract. McGovern v. New York, 229 U.S. 363 , 33 S.Ct. 876, 57 L.Ed. 1228. But in order for that special adaptability to be considered, there must be a reasonable probability of the lands in question being combined with other tracts for that purpose in the reasonably near future. Olson v. United States, 292 U.S. 246 , 255, 54 S.Ct. 704, 708, 78 L.Ed. 1236. In absence of such a showing, the chance of their being united for that special use is regarded `as too remote and speculative to have any legitimate effect upon the valuation.' McGovern v. New York, supra, 229 U.S. page 372, 33 S.Ct. page 877.”
10 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“while the meaning of 'property' as used in the Fifth Amendment [is] a federal question, 'it will normally obtain its content by reference to local law.'”
5 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority
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.