Mitchell v. Trawler Racer, Inc.’s Empirical Analysis
1960
Citation profile
936 federal appellate · 166 district · 228 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 2,067 later decisions (42 by the Supreme Court) — most recently December 2023 · most notably Moragne v. States Marine Lines, Inc. (1970), Gutierrez v. Waterman Steamship Corp. (1963)
936 federal appellate · 166 district · 228 state decisions — followed in 23 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
reviewedMitchell v. Trawler Racer, Inc. (from First Circuit Court of Appeals)
Relationships
Applies 45 U.S.C. § 51 (Federal Employers' Liability Act)
Relies on Seas Shipping Co. v. Sieracki · Pope & Talbot, Inc. v. Hawn · Southern Pacific Co. v. Jensen · The Osceola
Cited together with Seas Shipping Co. v. Sieracki · Alaska Steamship Co. v. Petterson · Mahnich v. Southern Steamship Co. · Pope & Talbot, Inc. v. Hawn · Crumady v. the Joachim Hendrik Fisser
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 2,067 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“to furnish a vessel and appurtenances reasonably fit for their intended use.”
93 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“In its present posture this case thus presents the single issue whether with respect to so-called `transitory' unseaworthiness the shipowner's liability is limited by concepts of common-law negligence.”
3 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority““The only rational justification for its imposition is that the owner is now to be regarded as an insurer [for unseaworthiness] who must bear the cost of the insurance.””
1 later decision 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.