Sugarman v. Lewis’s Empirical Analysis
1985
Citation profile
12 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 12 later decisions — most recently June 2012
12 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 Raheb v. Lemenski · Town of Scituate v. O'ROURKE · Warren Education Association v. Lapan · Citizens for Preservation of Waterman Lake v. Davis · Kingsley v. Miller
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 12 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“When we read the subdivision act as a whole, we view the clause “in such a manner as to require provision for a street” as a mechanism to alert the municipality when the proposed development is to be of such dimension as to have a substantial impact on municipal services and the general welfare of the community. In this way, the municipality can take whatever steps are necessary to ensure that the general health and welfare of its citizens and the development of the proposed plat are consonant. The trial justice in the instant case found as fact that the plan prepared by plaintiffs was an attempt to circumvent the subdivision requirement and that is was obvious from the plat maps that in order to protect the general health, welfare, and safety of the community, a street was required .... ... We find that plaintiffs have failed to show that the trial justice overlooked or misconceived material evidence or was clearly wrong. An examination of the plat map suggests that the provisions for the access roads constitute a potential traffic and fire hazard. It is apparent that a better system is required to benefit the general community and the lot owners themselves. We therefore conclude that the property comes within the provisions of the subdivision’s regulations and are subject to the planning board’s jurisdiction.”
1 later decision quote this exact passage““to make adequate provisions for traffic; to lessen traffic accidents; to promote safety from fire, flood, and other dangers * * * to secure a well-articulated street and highway system * * * to promote a coordinated development of unbuilt areas; * * * and to facilitate the adequate, efficient, and economic provision of transportation, water supply, sewerage, recreation, and other public utilities and requisites.” Section 45-23-3.”
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.