Freshour v. West’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

24 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 24 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “There’s no question that a paternity Order was established and that the biological father of the child was found to be Randy Speir [sic]. The Statute goes on to say, ‘The court may award custody to the biological father upon a showing that, (1) he is a fit parent to raise the child.’ Mr. Speir is found by the court to retain the same employment in excess of three years, and maintain continuous employment for at least five years. He has resided in Northwest Arkansas for the past three and a half years. That he’s married to a Martha Speir, and that he resided with his wife and had been married for approximately a year an a half, and that Mr. Speir had one daughter, and that he his wife, Martha, had a very amicable working relationship with the mother of Mr. Speir’s daughter, and that he supported that child and enjoyed visitations with that child. This court finds that there was nothing in the evidence anywhere to support any sort of finding other than that Mr. Speir was a fit parent to raise the child. Now, Number (2), in the Statute states, ‘That he has assumed his responsibilities toward the child by providing care, supervision, protection and financial support for the child.’Well, the record shows that he began paying— as soon as paternity was established, he began paying child support. In fact, the evidence before this court suggest that he had paid in excess of $400 more than he owed in child support, and that during the course of visitation, he cared for the child. The r”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. 85 Ark. App. 481 - Sheppard v. Speir