Esplin v. Hirschi’s Empirical Analysis
402 F.2d 94 · 1968
Citation profile
117 federal appellate · 108 district · 52 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 431 later decisions (3 by the Supreme Court) — most recently April 2022 · most notably American Pipe & Construction Co. v. Utah (1974), United Airlines, Inc. v. McDonald (1977)
117 federal appellate · 108 district · 52 state decisions — followed in 14 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.
Relationships
Relies on Holmberg v. Armbrecht · J. I. Case Co. v. Borak · Eisen v. Carlisle & Jacquelin · John B. Janigan v. Frederick B. Taylor
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 431 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“It cannot be denied that the resolution of the class action issue in suits of this type places an onerous burden on the trial court. But if there is to be an error made, let it be in favor and not against the maintenance of the class action, for it is always subject to modification should later developments during the course of the trial so require.”
16 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“[T]he interests of justice require that in a doubtful case ... any error, if there is to be one, should be committed in favor of allowing the class action.”
11 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“(3) the court finds that the questions of law or fact common to the members of the class predominate over any questions affecting only individual members, and that a class action is superior to other available methods for the fair and efficient adjudication of the controversy. The matters pertinent to the findings include: (A) the interest of members of the class in individually controlling the prosecution or defense of separate actions; (B) the extent and nature of any litigation concerning the controversy already commenced by or against members of the class; (C) the desirability or undesirability of concentrating the litigation of the claims in the particular forum; (D) the difficulties likely to be encountered in the management of a class action.”
6 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.