Lawrence v. Grinde’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

1 federal appellate · 23 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 34 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “[I]n Wyoming, in the limited circumstances where a contractual relationship exists for services that carry with them deeply emotional responses in the event of breach, there arises a duty to exercise ordinary care to avoid causing emotional harm.”

   2 later decisions quote this exact passage
   e.g. Mower v. Childrens Ctr · Hendricks v. Hurley

2. “The majority view among American jurisdictions is that emotional distress is not a reasonably foreseeable consequence of and does not “naturally ensue” from an act of legal malpractice. Merendo [v . Superior Court, 3 Cal.App.4th 1 ], 4 Cal.Rptr.2d [87,] 89, 91 [(1992)] (“precedent runs strongly against recovery [of emotional distress damages] in cases of legal malpractice.”); see also Smith v. Superior Court, 10 Cal.App.4th 1033 , 13 Cal.Rptr.2d 133, 136 (1992); McClain v. Faraone, 369 A.2d 1090, 1092, 1094 (Del.Super.Ct.1977) (emotional distress resulting from loss of residential property was not natural and probable consequence of negligent title search); Maere v. Churchill, 116 Ill. App.3d 939 , 72 Ill.Dec. 441, 444 , 452 N.E.2d 694, 697 (1983) (“Even though real estate is unique and the attorney-client relationship is a fiduciary one, we are unable to conclude that serious emotional disturbance is a particularly likely result of an attorney’s breach of contract in his examination of title to real estate.”). Only in “special cases involving peculiarly personal subject matters” do the majority of jurisdictions recognize that mental anguish may be a foreseeable damage resulting from attorney negligence. See, e.g., Oswald [v. Le-Grand], 453 N.W.2d [634,] 639 [(Iowa 1990) ]; Selsnick v. Horton, 96 Nev. 944 , 620 P.2d 1256, 1257 (1980).”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. Timmerman v. Eich

3. “Based on our precedents in this area of law and the reasoning of other courts on the subject, we believe that recognition of emotional distress damages as a result of the negligence of a bankruptcy attorney in completing bankruptcy forms would constitute a clear departure from the narrow circumstances in which emotional distress damages have previously been recoverable. A bankruptcy attorney’s duty to competently manage the bankruptcy process is not “ ‘so coupled with matters of mental concern or solicitude, or with the feelings of the party to whom the duty is owed, that a breach of that duty will necessarily or reasonably result in mental anguish or suffering.’ ” Oswald, 453 N.W.2d at 639 (quoting Taylor v. Baptist Medical Ctr., 400 So.2d 369, 374 (Ala.1981)). Moreover, the claimed emotional distress is too far removed from the defendants’ negligent conduct to cause the imposition of a duty and does not naturally ensue from the acts complained of. We therefore hold that the trial court erred as a matter of law in submitting the claim of severe emotional distress to the jury.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. Timmerman v. Eich