Vessels v. Vessels’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

4 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 4 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “This is a divorce case. The principal issue is the validity of a decree of divorce announced by the trial court on June 21, 1974, but not entered until August 28, 1974, two hours after the death of one of the parties. [[Image here]] The case came on to be tried on June 21, 1974. The parties then announced that the plaintiff was amending her com plaint to seek an absolute divorce and that the parties had agreed on a property settlement. On hearing testimony in open court, the trial judge awarded the plaintiff a divorce. No entry was made in the minutes of the court, but the trial judge wrote “divorce granted, property awarded,” and his name and the date on the cover of the court file. Thereafter, plaintiffs attorney sent a proposed decree to defendant’s counsel for approval. The decree was returned with a cover letter suggesting changes and additions to make the decree conform with the agreement of the parties and the notes in the trial judge’s file. Plaintiff's attorney then prepared, approved and forwarded to defendant’s counsel a second decree incorporating all the suggested changes and additions. The date the second decree was forwarded to defendant’s counsel is not shown in the record. The defendant died at 1:30 p.m. on August 28, 1974. On the same day, at 3:30 p.m., the trial judge signed the decree approved by counsel for both parties and entered it of record. The decree as entered shows that the trial judge made a correction to show that the case was heard on the 21st ”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. Steele v. Steele

2. “Rule 58.02 of the Tennessee Rules of Civil Procedure provides that “[t]he filing with the clerk of a judgment, signed by the judge, constitutes the entry of said judgment, and, unless the court otherwise directs, no judgment shall be effective for any purpose until the entry of same ...” (emphasis supplied) It is noted in the comments of the advisory committee that Rule 58.02 is designed to make uniform across the state the procedure for entry of judgment and to make certain the effective date of a judgment. In the case sub judice there is no order specifically stating the decree of divorce is to be effective at a date other than the date the decree was filed with the clerk after being signed by the trial judge. However, there is an order in the record clearly indicating the trial judge intended the divorce decree to be effective as of the date it was pronounced and that he believed he had done everything necessary to make the decree effective as of that date in entering “a notation on the file of the case that the divorce was granted and the property was awarded on the 21st day of June, 1974.” Cf. Rush v. Rush, 97 Tenn. 279 , 37 S.W. 13 (1896); McCown v. Quillin, 48 Tenn.App. 162 , 344 S.W.2d 576 (1960). This expressed intent, though bottomed on the wrong premise, in our opinion was a direction by the trial court that the decree of divorce be effective as of June 21, 1974. Accordingly, we affirm the trial judge’s action in overruling the motion to set aside the decree of div”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. Camp v. Camp