Seas Shipping Co. v. Sieracki’s Empirical Analysis
328 U.S. 85 · 1946
Citation profile
1,956 federal appellate · 311 district · 280 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 4,072 later decisions (132 by the Supreme Court) — most recently March 2024 · most notably Ryan Stevedoring Co. v. Pan-Atlantic Steamship Corp. (1956), Pope & Talbot, Inc. v. Hawn (1953)
1,956 federal appellate · 311 district · 280 state decisions — followed in 18 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
reviewedSieracki v. Seas Shipping Co. (from Third Circuit Court of Appeals)
Relationships
Applies 28 U.S.C. § 41 · 33 U.S.C. § 901 · 33 U.S.C. § 902 · 33 U.S.C. § 905 · 33 U.S.C. § 933 · 45 U.S.C. § 51 (Federal Employers' Liability Act)
Relies on Southern Pacific Co. v. Jensen · The Osceola · Mahnich v. Southern Steamship Co. · Panama Co v. Johnson
Cited together with Pope & Talbot, Inc. v. Hawn · Ryan Stevedoring Co. v. Pan-Atlantic Steamship Corp. · Alaska Steamship Co. v. Petterson · The Osceola · Mahnich v. Southern Steamship Co.
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 4,072 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“A boat owner's liability for unseaworthiness 'is a form of absolute duty owing to all within the humanitarian range of its humanitarian policy.'”
44 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“doing a seaman's work and incurring a seaman's hazards.”
27 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“'the special hazards and disadvantages to which they who go down to the sea in ships are subjected.'”
10 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the dissent
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.