Wilson v. Tromly’s Empirical Analysis
1949
Citation profile
5 federal appellate · 68 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 81 later decisions — most recently November 2025 · most notably 199 Ill. 2d 325 - Belleville Toyota, Inc. v. Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A., Inc. (2002), 228 Ill. 2d 404 - Williams v. Manchester (2008)
5 federal appellate · 68 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 Metropolitan Trust Co. v. Bowman Dairy Co. · Hartray v. Chicago Railways Co. · Carlin v. Peerless Gas Light Co. · Bishop v. Chicago Railways Co. · Fitzpatrick v. Pitcairn
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 81 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“The general purpose of a counterclaim has been long understood and many times defined. It differs from an answer in that a counterclaim must state a cause of action, and it seeks affirmative relief while a defense merely defeats the plaintiff's cause of action by a denial or confession and avoidance. [citing cases]. A counterclaim is an independent cause of action. [citing cases]. As involving all of these elements, a counterclaim is usually defined as a cause of action in favor of the defendant against the plaintiff, which the defendant is authorized to litigate in opposition to the plaintiff's claim in the same action. (25 Am. & Eng. Ency. of L., 568; 23 Stand. Ency. of Pl. & Pr., 585.) Since these were commonly understood elements of a counterclaim, as well as the definitions thereof, used prior to the adoption of the Civil Practice Act, we may strongly infer that the term is used in this sense in section 38 of that act, since it is not otherwise defined.”
1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority“legislature, having conferred a right of action *** may determine who shall sue, and the conditions under which the suit may be brought.”
1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majoritye.g. People v. Coe“A counterclaim is an independent cause of action.”
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.