United States v. Wright’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

13 federal appellate ·

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

1. “Although there is no legally recognized-relationship of trust between brokers and lenders, such legal recognition is not required, and the undisputed record in this case reveals that lenders often rely to some degree on statements by brokers in evaluating applications. That lenders, who are generally distrusting and like to verify information for themselves, would do so makes more sense given that brokers independently verify all relevant information before submitting applications and that brokers deal repeatedly with the same lenders and multiple lenders, unlike the average borrower. The relationship here is not lender-borrower, which we agree will seldom be a relationship of trust. It’s lender-middleman, and there is a difference. We inquire if there is a position of trust against the background reality that, wherever there is fraud the victim relies on the defendant’s statements, so there must be more than just reliance based on factors idiosyncratic to the case at hand. Here there is reliance that flows from the structure of the mortgage industry itself, which sets a patterned process for loan application that over time cultivates trust between brokers and lenders. In sum, on the facts before it the district court did not clearly err in concluding that Wright abused his position of trust as a mortgage broker.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. United States v. Septon