Carroll v. Sanders’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 15 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “As we see it, the four-year prohibition began when Sanders filed his first petition, not when he received his first discharge. In reaching this conclusion, we start with a point of grammar — that “[w]hen a word such as a pronoun points back to an antecedent or some other referent, the true referent should generally be the closest appropriate word.” Bryan A. Garner, Gamer’s Modem American Usage 523-24 (2003); see also 2A Norman J. Singer & J.D. Shambie Singer, Sutherland Statutes and Statutory Construction § 47:33 (7th ed. 2007). Consistent with this principle, the courts ordinarily assume that “a limiting clause or phrase ... modifies] only the noun or phrase that it immediately follows.” Barnhart v. Thomas, 540 U.S. 20, 26 , 124 S.Ct. 376 , 157 L.Ed.2d 333 (2003). Although not an “absolute” imperative, the “rule of the last antecedent” creates at least a rough presumption that such qualifying phrases attach only to the nearest available target.”

   2 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. In re Ohakpo · 910 F. Supp. 2d 1350 - Goldberg v. Companion Life Insurance

2. “(1) in a case filed under chapter 7, 11, or 12 of this title during the 4-year period preceding the date of the order for relief under this chapter, or (2) in a case filed under chapter 13 of this title during the 2-year period preceding the date of such order.”

   2 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. In Re Hieter · In Re Colbourne

3. “[Section] 1328(f)(l)’s pieces fit sensibly together, each phrase modifying the one that comes before it and each phrase having an independent task to do. The “in a case filed under” phrase that begins subsection (f)(1) modifies “received a discharge,” and the phrase that frames the four-year window — “during the 4-year period preceding [the second petition]” — modifies the “filed under” fragment that comes immediately before it. 11 U.S.C. § 1328 (f)(1); cf. Branigan v. Bateman (In re Bateman), 515 F.3d 272 , 277-78 & n. 8 (4th Cir.2008) (concluding that reading the nearly identical language of § 1328(f)(2) the same way “gives effect to the logical sequence of the language used,” because under this reading “[a]ll words are given effect” and “[n]o punctuation needs to be added or deleted” to make sense of the statute) (internal quotation marks omitted). The upshot is this: A debtor may not receive a discharge under chapter 13 if he already received a discharge under chapter 7 and the two cases were filed less than four years apart.... Besides honoring the last-antecedent rule, this construction of the statute has another virtue: It avoids reading the word “filed” out of the statute. Had Congress meant to adopt a discharge-to-filing rule, it could have satisfied that objective “by omitting the word ‘filed’ entirely” from the provision. Id. at 278. The clipped phrase (“a case under”) would perform the very function that Carroll contends “in a case filed under” accomplishes: denot”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. In re Johnson