Rytersky v. O'Brine’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

4 federal appellate · 49 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 53 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “We have considered . . . the alleged error in plaintiff's principal instruction submitting the case on the humanitarian doctrine. It is the same error that is commented on in Williams v. St. Louis Public Service Co., . . . except that the jury was told in this case that if plaintiff was in a position of peril `at and prior,' instead of `at or prior,' as in the Williams case, to the time she was injured and thereafter defendant could by reasonable care have averted the injury, to find for plaintiff. Perhaps the wording of the instruction in the present case is less confusing than in the Williams case, and we doubt very much if the jury was misled by it. The instruction, if read literally, is inaccurate as it is obvious that on a finding that plaintiff was seen in peril at the moment of the injury, the defendant could not thereafter avoid injuring her, but, such meaning being obviously impossible, the jury would not likely understand it that way. As a new trial must be granted on another ground, it would be better on another trial to so draw the instruction as to avoid this criticism.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Hein v. Peabody Coal Co.

2. “to make an honest inquiry of the jurors as to their relation to any person directly or indirectly interested in the case as an insurer or otherwise, * * * then the question of liability insurance goes out of the case, as in fact it never was in it, so far as the trial of the case is concerned. * * * No attorney should seek or be allowed to convert his privilege of obtaining information in order to select an impartial jury into a means of plainting prejudicial facts in the minds of jurors so as to render them biased and prejudiced. * * The courts must condemn and prevent, as far as possible, such practice. * * * We can safely say, we think that no plaintiff should be allowed to keep green before the minds of the jury throughout the trial or in the closing argument and after the legitimate purpose of such inquiry has been fully accomplished the fact that the real defendant carries liability insurance and will not have to pay the judgment rendered since a corporate insurer is back of him.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Phillips v. Vrooman

3. “it is proper on the voir dire examination to ascertain whether any juror who has qualified generally is in any way, directly or indirectly, interested in such insurer or carries a like policy in some company, or any other fact or relation which, if known, would aid the parties to the suit in making a choice between the qualified jurors.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Swinger v. Bell