Elliott v. Roach’s Empirical Analysis
1980
Citation profile
7 federal appellate · 39 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 53 later decisions (1 by the Supreme Court) — most recently December 2017 · most notably Philadelphia Newspapers, Inc. v. Hepps (1986), Williams v. Tharp (2009)
7 federal appellate · 39 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 New York Times Co. v. Sullivan · Gertz v. Robert Welch, Inc. · St. Amant v. Thompson · Garrison v. State of Louisiana · Bullock v. United States
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 53 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“"made in good faith on any subject matter in which the party making the communication has an interest or in reference to which he has a duty either public or private, either legal, moral, or social, if made to a person having a corresponding interest or duty...."”
7 later decisions quote this exact passage“"As the phrase `qualified or conditional privilege' suggests, such privilege does not change the actionable quality of the words published, but merely rebuts the inference of malice that is imputed in the absence of privilege. 50 Am.Jur.2d Libel and Slander § 195 at 698 (1970). In an appropriate case, a trier of fact may determine the privilege was abused by excessive publication, by use of the occasion for an improper purpose, or by lack of belief or grounds for belief in the truth of what is said. W. Prosser, supra, at 792-96. And although the term `malice' is frequently applied in viewing such acts, it appears `the essence of the concept is not the speaker's spite but his abuse of the privileged occasion by going beyond the scope of the purposes for which the privilege exists.' Weenig v. Wood, supra [169 Ind. App.] at 436, 349 N.E.2d at 249 ."”
6 later decisions quote this exact passage“as a general proposition, proof of the truth of an alleged defamation has been held to be a complete defense to a civil action for libel. Palmer v. Adams , (1894) 137 Ind. 72 , 36 N.E. 695 , citing Ind. Const., art. 1, s 10. See also 18 I.L.E. Libel and Slander s 62 (1959). We also observe, however, that whenever the question arises, the defamer bears the burden of proof on this issue of fact, since 'truth' is an affirmative defense to a claim for libel. Weenig v. Wood , [ 169 Ind. App. 413 , 440, 349 N.E.2d 235 , 251 (1976) ]. Moreover, when an alleged defamer ... appeals a negative judgment on the issue of truth, a Court on appeal may hold in his favor only if it determines no reasonable trier of fact could have decided his accusations were untrue. Id.”
2 later decisions 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.