Trimble v. Merloe’s Empirical Analysis
1964
Citation profile
52 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 54 later decisions — most recently March 2026 · most notably Feld v. Merriam (1984), Baird v. Dun & Bradstreet, Inc. (1971)
52 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 Lenahan v. Pittston Coal Mining Co. · Kaplan v. Loev · Hollis v. United States Glass Co. · DeMichiei v. Holfelder · Walsh v. Wilkes-Barre
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 54 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
““In this and every adversary tort proceeding, two basic issues are presented: (1) liability and (2) the damages to be awarded as compensation for the wrongful invasion of plaintiff’s rights. In resolving these issues (in the absence of punitive damages), consideration of the affluence of the defendant, his ability to pay, or his liability insurance coverage is improper, irrelevant, prejudicial and clearly beyond the legally established boundaries.””
2 later decisions quote this exact passage““This is an instance where plaintiff’s counsel made a conscious and deliberate effort to build his case and verdict by seeking to distract the jury from the real issues and to induce a substantial verdict by inferences, allusions and insinuations by his insurance comments. This approach was clearly a design to make capital out of something not in the record and no part of the law suit. Insurance had not been mentioned or even suggested prior to his summation. It would indeed be naive to proceed upon the wholly unrealistic assumption that counsel’s insurance argument was not made with the expectation that it would help his case.””
1 later decision quote this exact passage“Of this verdict the lower court noted: “The question as to liability was close and not clear. First, as to the negligence of the [Defendant], and second, as to the contributo ry negligence of the [Plaintiff], and the mention of insurance may have been a determining factor in deciding liability or as to the amount of the verdict awarded. * * ” Id., 413 Pa. at 411 , 197 A.2d at 458-59 .”
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.