Smith v. Shaffer’s Empirical Analysis
1986
Citation profile
50 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 50 later decisions — most recently January 2005 · most notably John M. v. Paula T. (1990), Brinkley v. King (1997)
50 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 Dilliplaine v. Lehigh Valley Trust Co. · Thompson v. City of Philadelphia · Burrell v. Philadelphia Electric Co. · Austin v. Ridge · Tagnani v. Lew
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 50 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“An appellate court “will not reverse a court’s exercise of discretion in granting or refusing to grant a new trial ... unless there has been a clear abuse of that discretion.” Quinn v. Kumar, 437 Pa. 268, 275 , 263 A.2d 458, 462 (1970). “To determine whether a trial court’s decision to grant a new trial constituted a palpable abuse of discretion, an appellate court must examine the record and assess the weight of the evidence; not, however as the trial judge, to determine whether the preponderance of the evidence opposes the verdict, but rather to determine whether the court below in so doing plainly exceeded the limits of judicial discretion and invaded the exclusive domain of the jury.””
2 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“A blood test is only one factor to be considered and weighed by a jury in determining paternity. Since the blood tests are not conclusive evidence of paternity, the jurors also were required to consider whether Hagen and Wilberg engaged in sexual intercourse between mid-February and mid-March. The jury, here, obviously believed that Hagen did not have access to Wilberg during the time of conception. This is a credibility determination. Credibility determinations are for the finder of fact and should not be disturbed on appeal.”
2 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“in determining the facts the jury has the right to believe all, some of, or none of the experts' testimony. Furthermore, it was the jury's duty to consider all of the facts and circumstances established by the trial evidence. . . .”
1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
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.