Jamison v. Storer Broadcasting Co.’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

6 federal appellate · 5 district · 9 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 33 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “If the person commits suicide in response to a mental condition, as distinguished from a mental illness, a prior tortfeasor, perhaps in part responsible for that condition, will not be liable because the act of the deceased is viewed as an independent intervening cause. But if the act of the tortfeasor spawns a mental illness which in turn causes the suicide, then the causal chain is not broken and liability will attach. Plainly, the distinction is a fine one that may rest largely on the terminology preferred by a given psychologist or psychiatrist. But its importance cannot be minimized, for it is the only shield between a past tortfeasor and liability for suicide by the victim, and further, it is the best means the law can devise to account for the important social values intertwined with this difficult issue.”

   2 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Moore v. Western Forge Corp. · 84 F. Supp. 2d 794 - Shamburger v. Grand Casino of Mississippi, Inc.

2. ““United States Steel resisted the plaintiffs’ motion to compel production of documents primarily on the basis of a public policy argument. It argued that voluntary compliance on the part of employers is a necessary element of federal equal employment opportunity policy. Even though affirmative action plans are required for all government contractors, the quality of these documents depends to a great extent on the good faith of employers in evaluating their progress and establishing affirmative action goals. If these materials are subject to discovery and can be used by plaintiffs in Title VII suits, employers will not make candid evaluations and will attempt to set goals at minimum levels. Since the government cannot review in detail the massive amount of documents received under the affirmative action program, a decrease in voluntary cooperation could seriously impair the equal employment opportunity policy. ... Disclosure of such subjective information could discourage employers from making the candid internal evaluations that the affirmative action program envisions. Although the plaintiffs have argued persuasively that the defendant has not adequately demonstrated that disclosure would discourage voluntary compliance, the defendant’s public policy argument nevertheless retains sufficient force to prevent disclosure.””

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Witten v. A.H. Smith & Co.

3. “While one may arguably attempt to spin a web connecting all the events in Mr. Jamison’s life after his discharge to the effect the discharge had on him, the connecting strands are too thin to support a legal claim. Explanations for our personality traits and idiosyncrasies are often laid to different life experiences we have had. But the fact that a person’s life experiences have an indelible effect on future developments cannot be independently sufficient to carry the requirement of legal causation. In the instant case, for example, the experiences contributing to Mr. Jamison’s decision to end his life clearly were multiple; only by speculation can they be tied directly to the discharge. More probably, his life was complicated by the discharge and, as things “snowballed,” life became increasingly unbearable. Of course, plaintiff would contend that if the discharge were at the core of the snowball then the causal requirement is met. This reading of causation is untenable, however, because, as I have suggested, the interconnection between life experiences is virtually infinite; to permit liability to attach merely because one event triggered other experiences which combined to create an unbearable circumstance for Mr. Jamison would be to expand the concept of causation beyond manageable bounds..”

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