Stockwell v. Morris’s Empirical Analysis
1933
Citation profile
14 federal appellate · 68 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 86 later decisions (2 by the Supreme Court) — most recently April 2025 · most notably National Labor Relations Board v. Hearst Publications, Inc. (1944), Henkelmann v. Metropolitan Life Insurance (1942)
14 federal appellate · 68 state decisions — followed in 14 states
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 Singer Manufacturing Co. v. Rahn · Press Publishing Co. v. Industrial Accident Commission · Singer Manuf'G Co v. Rahn · McCarthy v. Souther · New Amsterdam Casualty Co. v. Sumrell
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 86 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“"`A principal employing another to achieve a result but not controlling the details of his physical movements is not responsible for incidental negligence while such person is conducting the authorized transaction. Thus the principal is not responsible for the negligent physical conduct of an attorney, a broker, a factor or a rental agent, as such. In their movements and their control of physical forces, they are in the relation of independent contractors to the principal. It is only when to the relationship of principal and agent there is added that right to control physical details as to the manner of performance, which is characteristic of the relation of master and servant, that the person in whose service the act is done, becomes subject to liability for the physical conduct of the actor.'" 22 P.2d at 194 .”
5 later decisions quote this exact passage“"* * * that portion of the employment directly connected with the factor by reason of which liability is sought to be established. It would not do, we think, to pursue the shadow, leaving the substance out of consideration." 22 P.2d at 193 .”
4 later decisions quote this exact passage““* * * And the gist of the controversy herein is as to whether the principal is liable for its agent’s negligence while engaged in a more or less necessary physical act which is incidental to the performance of his general duties, or, if we must use a special term, whether or not the agent, while engaged in that physical act, must be regarded in the nature of an independent contractor.* * *””
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.