Spaulding v. United States’s Empirical Analysis
455 F.2d 222 · 1972
Citation profile
38 federal appellate · 9 district · 6 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 97 later decisions — most recently March 2011 · most notably Zabala Clemente v. United States (1977), Miller v. United States (1978)
38 federal appellate · 9 district · 6 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
Applies 28 U.S.C. § 1346 (Federal Tort Claims Act)
Relies on Indian Towing Company v. United States · Texas & Pacific Railway Co. v. Bigham · United Air Lines, Inc. v. Wiener · Hopson v. Gulf Oil Corp. · Carey v. Pure Distributing Corp.
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 97 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
““The pilot is in command of his aircraft. He is directly responsible and has final authority for its operation. See 14 CFR § 91.3 (a). However, before the pilot is held legally responsible for his aircraft, he must know those facts which are material to the operation of his plane. An important source of this information is tower personnel, air traffic controllers . . The air traffic controller is required to give all information and warning specified in his manuals. This duty to warn is based on the simple tort principle that once the Government has assumed a function or service, it is liable for negligent performance.” (Emphasis supplied.)”
7 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority““ * * * There is ample evidence that the Austin approach controller gave instructions to the pilot which could be reasonably and safely accomplished and which were reasonably calculated to provide assistance to the pilot.””
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.