Wolff v. Britton’s Empirical Analysis
328 F.2d 181 · 1964
Citation profile
13 federal appellate · 2 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 18 later decisions — most recently July 1985
13 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 O'Leary v. Brown-Pacific-Maxon, Inc. · Cardillo US v. Liberty Mut Ins Co · Hartford Accident & Indemnity Co. v. Cardillo · Commercial Casualty Ins. v. Hoage · Hartford Accident & Indemnity Co. v. Cardillo
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 18 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“3. That just prior to 5:00 p. m., the quitting time, on the afternoon of the said day the employee and several of his fellow workers gathered in or near the open door of the employer's shop near the employer's desk and were discussing their work; that the employee, while standing with and talking to his fellow workers, as found above, and while holding a bottle of soda pop in one hand, was heard to make an eerie cry described by those who heard it as a frightened laugh or scream, following which he partially knelt by flexing his knees while clutching at his stomach with his hands as if he were in pain, and then he suddenly leaped upward and backwards, partially turned about in the air and fell to the floor, striking the back of his head, following which his face, body and extremities twitched and jerked, his eyes rolled upward and backward, foam appeared on his lips, and he appeared to be trying to swallow his tongue; that thereafter the employee was taken to a hospital but was later released on the same day; that early the following day the employee lost consciousness and was taken to another hospital where he remained until his death which occurred on August 23, 1961; that the death of the employee was due to massive cerebral edema, due to contusions of the brain, due to a fracture of the skull, which fracture was sustained when the employee struck his head, as found above.”
1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majoritye.g. Wolff v. Britton“Just prior to quitting time * * * Wolff and several of his fellow employees were standing and discussing their work when he suffered a convulsive idiopathic seizure. The seizure was not caused by nor related to any condition of his employment. As a result of the seizure, he partially knelt by flexing his knees, while clutching at his stomach with his hands, as if he were in pain. Then suddenly he leaped upward and backwards, partially turned about in the air and fell to the floor, striking the back of his head on the concrete floor. ( The fall sustained by Wolff was not caused by his slipping or tripping on any substance or object associated with his employment. )”
1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majoritye.g. Wolff v. Britton“5. That the fall sustained by the employee, as found above, was not caused by the employee's slipping or tripping on any substances or objects associated with the employment; that the said fall was not the result of any accidental occurrence arising out of the employment; that the death of the employee did not arise out of the employment as alleged, but that it was due to a cause or causes unrelated to the employment.”
1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majoritye.g. Wolff v. Britton
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.