Reetz v. Chicago & E. R.’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

16 federal appellate · 1 state decisions

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 21 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. ““ * * * where the failure of the appliance not only creates a condition under which, or an incidental situation in which the employee is injured, but'where the defective appliance is itself an efficient cause of or the instrumentality through which the injury is directly brought about.” Reetz v. Chicago & E. R. Co., supra, 46 F.2d page 52.”

   3 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Weinzen v. Pennsylvania Railroad · Green v. River Terminal Railway Co.

2. “"An employee cannot recover for a violation of the statutory duty to provide safety appliances, such as the Boiler Inspection Act requires, unless the failure to comply with the statute is a proximate cause of the accident which results in his injury; if it merely creates a condition or situation in which the accident happens from other causes, there is no liability. But, if a failure to comply with the requirements of the act is a proximate cause of the accident, resulting in injury to the employee while in the discharge of his duty, he can recover even though not engaged in an operation in which the safety appliances are specifically designed to furnish him protection. [Citing cases.] Whether in a given case the statutory violation is to be deemed the proximate cause, or merely a condition, of the accident is often a troublesome problem, and it is impossible to harmonize all of the many decisions on the subject. The defendant argues that Anderson's own act in placing himself in a position of danger where he would be struck by the Erie engine was the proximate cause of his death, and the defect in the sanders only a remote cause or condition of the accident. But the jury might reasonably find from the evidence that he had taken this position in an effort to remedy the defect and get the sand to flow * * * and that his conduct was a normal reaction to the stimulus of a situation created by the defendant's violation of its statutory duty. Granting that he was negligent in not ”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Warning v. Thompson