Hatfield v. Spears’s Empirical Analysis
1980
Citation profile
7 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 8 later decisions — most recently October 2017
7 state decisions
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
Relies on City Delivery Co. v. Henry · 376 So. 2d 705 - Town of Loxley v. ROSINTON WATER, SEWER, ETC. · 48 Ala. App. 224 - City of Fairhope v. Raddcliffe · C. O. Osborn Contracting Co. v. Alabama Gas Corp. · Trognitz v. Fry
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 8 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“Plaintiffs urge that conversion was a permissible cause of action because (1) dirt was severed from their property; (2) the dirt thus became personal property; and (3) Spears converted such personal property to his own use. We, however, agree with defendant’s argument that an action for conversion could not be maintained because the dirt was permanently affixed to realty and, thus, became incorporated into that realty. Alabama law is clear that trover will only lie for conversion of chattels and will not lie for the conversion of personal property which is, after the alleged conversion, incorporated into real property.”
1 later decision quote this exact passage“personal hand in the trespass, by directing, aiding, participating in, or ratifying the trespass committed by that person's active agent or joint participant”
1 later decision quote this exact passage
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.