Nolechek v. Gesuale’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

4 federal appellate · 24 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 44 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “A standard of “reasonable care under the circumstances,” well understood in tort law * * *, would not require that a parent live up to some idealized picture of a model father or mother. A mere misjudgment in supervising one’s child would not necessarily constitute a tor-tious breach of duty. In determining whether the bounds of reasonable behavior have been transgressed, all of the relevant facts and circumstances would have to be considered. In a supervision situation, among the foremost are bound to be the existence of the relation of parent and child; the practical responsibilities, expectations and limitations that flow therefrom; and the judgmental nature of the decisions a parent must make in functioning in that capacity. Without developing this point in exten-so, the weight which a court or jury will ascribe to each of these and other related factors will depend on the facts peculiar to the particular case. For example, aside from the facts relating to the negligence itself, such variable matters as the age, mental and physical health, intelligence, aptitudes and needs of the child involved; the presence in the family of other children competing for parental time and attention; and the economic, social and physical environment in which the parental conduct occurs, all may be expected to play a part. It is hard to see why such a tailoring of the results of each case to its facts is not to be preferred to the erection of rigid classifications, be they catalogued as “tre”

   2 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the dissent
   e.g. Miller v. LELJEDAL · Anderson Ex Rel. Anderson v. Stream

2. “In Holodook v. Spencer it was held that an infant child has no cause of action against his parent for inadequate supervision_ The thrust of the holding in Holodook is that parents are in the best position to determine how much supervision is right for their children. When children are young, the decisions may involve the extent to which they will be permitted to stray from the immediate physicial presence of their parents; when children are older, the decisions are more varied. Children might, at various points in their development, be permitted, and properly so, to use bicycles, lawn mowers, power tools, motorcycles, or automobiles, all of which are, in some contingencies, “dangerous instruments”. The guiding principles, however, remain the same: “The duty to supervise a child in his daily activities has as its objective the fostering of physical, emotional and intellectual development, and is one whose enforcement can depend only on love. Each child is different, as is each parent.... For this reason parents have always had the right to determine how much independence, supervision and control a child should have, and to best judge the character and extent of development of their child.””

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Crounse v. Stimpson Computing Scale Co.

3. “By contrast, it is well-established law that a parent owes a duty to third parties to shield them from an infant child’s improvident use of a dangerous instrument, at least, if not especially, when the parent is aware of and capable of controlling its use. This is not because parents are obliged to raise their children in any particular way; it is because however the children are raised, there must be respect for the hazards created for third parties.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Crounse v. Stimpson Computing Scale Co.