Schaeffer v. Burdette’s Empirical Analysis
1986
Citation profile
10
cited by 10 later decisions
5
states following
April 1998
most recently cited
10 state decisions
Relationships
Relies on Bentzler v. Braun · Spier v. Barker · Fields v. Volkswagen of America, Inc. · Britton v. Doehring · 108 Ill. 2d 129 - Clarkson v. Wright
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 10 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“[traditionally, in the absence of legislation to the contrary, the rule has been, ‘You take your plaintiffs as you find them.’ Defendant has not persuaded us that we should depart from that rule here. Adopting a rule that exonerates defendants from liability for injuries sustained in accidents caused by their negligence — regardless of their degree of fault — would constitute the judicial imposition of a ‘duty’ to wear a seat belt that could lead to unfair and anomalous results. One glaring example would be that a drunk driver could be free from any civil liability for injuries sustained in an automobile accident caused by the driver’s disregard for the safety of others, if he was able to show that the use of a seat belt would have prevented the injuries sustained by the victim.”
1 later decision quote this exact passage
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.