Richards v. United States’s Empirical Analysis
1962
Citation profile
1,172 federal appellate · 622 district · 188 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 3,634 later decisions (115 by the Supreme Court) — most recently May 2025 · most notably Adickes v. S. H. Kress & Co. (1970), Immigration & Naturalization Service v. Elias-Zacarias (1992)
1,172 federal appellate · 622 district · 188 state decisions — followed in 24 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
reviewedRichards v. United States (from Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals)
Relationships
Relies on Klaxon Co. v. Stentor Electric Manufacturing Co. · United States v. Sherwood · Feres v. United States · D'Oench, Duhme & Co. v. Federal Deposit Insurance
Cited together with Consumer Product Safety Commission v. GTE Sylvania, Inc. · Dalehite v. United States · American Tobacco Co. v. Patterson · Indian Towing Company v. United States · Klaxon Co. v. Stentor Electric Manufacturing Co.
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 3,634 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“that the legislative purpose is expressed by the ordinary meaning of the words used.”
61 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“An action shall not be instituted upon a claim against the United States for money damages for injury or loss of property or personal injury or death caused by the negligent or wrongful act or omission of any employee of the Government while acting within the scope of his office or employment, unless the claimant shall have first presented the claim to the appropriate Federal agency and his claim shall have been finally denied by the agency in writing and sent by certified or registered mail. The failure of an agency to make final disposition of a claim within six months after it is filed shall, at the option of the claimant any time thereafter, be deemed a final denial of the claim for purposes of this section.”
43 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“in accordance with the law of the place where the act or omission occurred.”
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.