Smith v. Borello’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

2 federal appellate · 2 district · 18 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 24 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “[t]he recovery, in other words, is for the psychic injury inflicted 'on the mother and not for her sorrow over the loss of the child. Recovery for that sorrow must be had, if at all, under the wrongful death statute.”

   3 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Smith v. Borello · Ryan v. Brown

2. “The major issue with which [courts considering emotional distress arising from a miscarriage or stillbirth] have wrestled is defining the kinds of damages that are allowable in the mother's action so as neither to duplicate damages afforded in a wrongful death action nor to permit damages that, under the State's law, clearly are not allowed, even in a wrongful death action. The demarcation lines drawn by the courts are not always consistent and they are not always clearly articulated.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Pierce v. Physicians Insurance Co. of Wisconsin, Inc.

3. “Whether, and to what extent, the injured mother of a previable fetus, miscarried as a result of a defendant’s negligence, can recover as damages for medical expenses, lost wages, pain and suffering, emotional distress, emotional trauma, anguish, depression and/or grief resulting from the loss of her fetus?”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. Smith v. Borello