United States v. Boyd’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

5 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 6 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “acting without the [defendant's] knowledge or consent.”

   2 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. United States v. P/B STCO 213, ON 527 979 · United States Court of Appeals, Fifth Circuit

2. ““On August 10, 1975, while the barge SHAMROCK was taking on oil at Shell Oil Company’s petroleum terminal in Baltimore, Maryland, over 3000 barrels of oil spilled into the Patapseo River. More than three years later, in September 1978, the United States brought this action against Shell Oil, the SHAMROCK and her owner, Harbor Towing Corporation, to recover the amount the government expended to clean up the oil. The defendants have moved for summary judgment under Fed.R.Civ.P. 56 on the grounds that the suit is barred by the applicable statute of limitations, 28 U.S.C. § 2415 (b). “That section provides that every action for money damages brought by the United States ‘which is founded upon a tort’ is barred unless filed within three years after the right of action accrues. The defendants reason that an action to recover the costs of removing oil pollution is an action ‘founded upon a tort.’ “The government responds that this action is founded not upon a tort but upon the sovereign’s right under the Constitution to insure and protect the cleanness of its navigable waters, a right, it is argued, which is not subject to any statute of limitations. The complaint did not specify the theory of liability supporting this action. The government argues now that there are some six possible theories of recovery, 1 all intertwined, and all ‘founded’ upon the authority of the sovereign to abate pollution. This argument has been foreclosed, however, by the recent decision of the Fourth Circu”

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