Napoli v. Hellenic Lines Ltd’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

5 district · 14 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 48 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “"[T]here was evidence from which a jury might conclude that the ship should reasonably have anticipated that Napoli would not be able to avoid the danger despite its obviousness. The thrust of Napoli’s testimony was that he had to stand on the plywood in order to carry out his duties of giving signals to the winchmen. Thus, it might be argued that if this was the only place for Napoli to work and carry out his job, the vessel might reasonably anticipate that he would use it despite its obvious danger, since the only alternatives would be to leave his job or face trouble for delaying the work. Should the jury be persuaded by this argument and find that the shipowner was negligent in not correcting the open and obvious danger but that the plaintiff was contributorily negligent, it would apply the doctrine of comparative negligence to reduce the shipowner’s liability proportionately.””

   5 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. 50 Md. App. 389 - Jong Hee Park v. United States Lines, Inc. · Lubrano v. Royal Netherlands Steamship Co.

2. “"§343. Dangerous Conditions Known to or Discoverable by Possessor A possessor of land is subject to liability for physical harm caused to his invitees by a condition on the land if, but only if, he (a) Knows or by the exercise of reasonable care would discover the condition, and should realize that it involves an unreasonable risk of harm to such invitees, and (b) should expect that they will not discover or realize the danger, or will fail to protect themselves against it, and (c) fails to exercise reasonable care to protect them against the danger. 343A. Known or Obvious Dangers (1) A possessor of land is not liable to his invitees for physical harm caused to them by any activity or condition on the land whose danger is known or obvious to them, unless the possessor should anticipate the harm despite such knowledge or obviousness. (2) In determining whether the possessor should anticipate harm from a known or obvious danger, the fact that the invitee is entitled to make use of public land, or of the facilities of a public utility, is a factor of importance indicating that the harm should be anticipated.””

   4 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Shannon v. Howard S. Wright Const. Co. · 50 Md. App. 389 - Jong Hee Park v. United States Lines, Inc.

3. ““In the event of injury to a person covered under this chapter caused by the negligence of a vessel, then such person may bring an action against such vessel as a third party in accordance with the provisions of Section 937 of this title . . . . If such person was employed by the vessel to provide ship building or repair service, no such action shall be permitted if the injury was caused by the negligence of persons engaged in providing ship building or repair services to the vessel. The liability of the vessel under this subsection shall not be based upon the warranty of seaworthiness or a breach thereof at the time the injury occurred.” 33 U.S.C. § 905 (b).”

   4 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Vasquez v. Intermaritime Carriers S.A. · Harrelson v. United States