Binder v. Binder’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

8 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 8 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. ““The trial judge who makes a decision involving a disputed question of fact should have the opportunity to see and hear the witnesses and determine their credibility. Although [the successor judge] had read 'the transcript of the proceedings before [the original judge], this court has often stated that ‘cold print’ is no substitute for the oppoi'tunity of the trial judge to hear and observe the witnesses. [[Image here]] “The issue is not one of authority under the rules to do so, but rather the issue is one of due process. In cases tried without a jury, the general rule is that a party litigant is entitled to a decision on the facts by a judge who heard and saw the wit nesses, and a deprivation of that right is a • denial of due process. * * ⅜ ⅜ ⅜ * “[B]ecause the issues to be resolved included questions of fact dependent upon credibility of the witnesses and because [the original judge] had the opportunity to hear and observe some, although not all, of the witnesses who testified, [the successor judge] should have granted the new trial rather than amend the findings and conclusions to reach a result different from that reached by [the original judge]. We therefore reverse the judgment and remand the entire matter to the trial court for a new trial.””

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. Holzer v. Jochim