Urie v. Thompson’s Empirical Analysis
337 U.S. 163 · 1949
Citation profile
1,033 federal appellate · 136 district · 1,079 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 3,018 later decisions (68 by the Supreme Court) — most recently April 2025 · most notably United States v. Kubrick (1979), England v. Louisiana State Board of Medical Examiners (1964)
1,033 federal appellate · 136 district · 1,079 state decisions — followed in 44 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.
Relationships
Applies 45 U.S.C. § 1 · 45 U.S.C. § 51 (Federal Employers' Liability Act) · 45 U.S.C. § 53 (Federal Employers' Liability Act) · 45 U.S.C. § 54 (Federal Employers' Liability Act) · 45 U.S.C. § 56 (Federal Employers' Liability Act)
Relies on Erie Co v. Tompkins · Mondou v. New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad · Brady v. Southern Railway Co. · Tiller v. Atlantic Coast Line Railroad
Cited together with United States v. Kubrick · Rogers v. Missouri Pacific Railroad · Atchison Topeka and Santa Fe Railway Company v. Buell · Lilly v. Grand Trunk Western Railroad · Consolidated Rail Corporation v. Gottshall
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 3,018 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“`the afflicted employee can be held to be”
89 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“Every common carrier by railroad ... shall be liable in damages to any person suffering injury while he is employed by such carrier ... for such injury or death resulting in whole or in part from the negligence of any of the officers, agents, or employees of such carrier, or by reason of any defect or insufficiency, due to its negligence, in its cars, engines, appliances, machinery, track, roadbed, works, boats, wharves, or other equipment.”
78 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“in proper condition and safe to operate without unnecessary danger of personal injury.”
12 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority
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.