Indian Towing Company v. United States’s Empirical Analysis
1955
Citation profile
1,524 federal appellate · 437 district · 247 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 3,301 later decisions (69 by the Supreme Court) — most recently October 2022 · most notably United States v. Mitchell (1983), United States v. Kubrick (1979)
1,524 federal appellate · 437 district · 247 state decisions — followed in 29 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
reviewedIndian Towing Co. v. United States (from Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals)
Relationships
Applies 14 U.S.C. § 81 · 14 U.S.C. § 83 · 28 U.S.C. § 1346 (Federal Tort Claims Act) · 28 U.S.C. § 2674 · 28 U.S.C. § 2680 · 29 U.S.C. § 201 (American Samoa Labor Standards Amendments of 1956) · 29 U.S.C. § 251 (Employee Commuting Flexibility Act of 1996) · 33 U.S.C. § 409
Relies on United States v. American Trucking Associations · Feres v. United States · Dalehite v. United States · Federal Crop Ins Corporation v. Merrill · Anderson v. Mt. Clemens Pottery Co.
Cited together with Dalehite v. United States · Rayonier Incorporated v. United States a Arnhold · United States v. S.A. Empresa De Viacao Aerea Rio Grandense · Feres v. United States · Berkovitz v. United States
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 3,301 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“The Coast Guard need not undertake the lighthouse service. But once it exercised its discretion to operate a light on Chandeleur Island and engendered reliance on the guidance afforded by the light, it was obligated to use due care to make certain that the light was kept in good working order; and, if the light did become extinguished, then the Coast Guard was further obligated to use due care to discover this fact and to repair the light or give warning that it was not functioning. If the Coast Guard failed in its duty and damage was thereby caused to petitioners, the United States is liable under the Tort Claims Act.”
90 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“Any claim based upon an act or omission of an employee of the Government, exercising due care, in the execution of a statute or regulation, whether or not such statute or regulation be valid, or based upon the exercise or performance or the failure to exercise or perform a discretionary function or duty on the part of a federal agency or an employee of the Government, whether or not the discretion involved be abused.”
66 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“The United States shall be liable, respecting the provisions of this title relating to tort claims, in the same manner and to the same extent as a private individual under like circumstances, but shall not be liable for interest prior to judgment or for punitive damages.”
33 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.