Spence v. Eastern Airlines, Inc.’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

4 federal appellate · 3 district · 1 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 14 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “The assessment of fees must be fair and reasonable based upon the particular circumstances of the case. The factors to be considered in fixing the fee include the plaintiff’s earning capacity, his financial resources and ability to pay the sum awarded; the relative financial status of the defendant may also be taken into account — in sum, the equities of the situation are to be considered to assure that although the deterrent purpose of the statute is enforced, a losing party is not subjected to financial ruin.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Rapisardi v. Democratic Party of Cook County

2. “The standard to be applied in determining whether an award should be made is identical under both [of these] sections. The fact that plaintiff failed to sustain her claims does not automatically entitle the defendant to such fees. Fees may be granted to a prevailing party only upon a finding that the plaintiffs claims were ‘frivolous, unreasonable or groundless, or that plaintiff continued to litigate after (they) clearly became so.’”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Oppenheimer v. Charles Samelson, Inc.