Cole v. Litz’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

5 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 7 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “[T]he Board's position was that in prior appeals before them, the construction placed upon the requirement as to who proceeds first is that the plaintiff should present his evidence since he has appealed to the Board from a decision of the Superintendent and under provisions of the County Charter, the Board hears appeals on disciplinary actions taken by the Superintendent.. . . Obviously, if this were an instance where the plaintiff was the movant and he sought to establish a claim, e. g., right to a pension, vacation pay, or seniority for promotion, or to obtain a license of some sort, the burden of persuasion would rest upon him. Such is not the case here, but rather it is the department which seeks to discharge plaintiff. In the instant case the evidence is undisputed that plaintiff was discharged by the Superintendent based not upon a hearing, but only upon an Inspector's Report. His first evidentiary hearing, although styled an appeal, was before the Board. . Thus, since the Board hearing was the first evidentiary hearing of an adversary nature, we hold that the Superintendent has the burden of proof and should have been required to put on his case first; and, thereafter, the defendant, if the Superintendent has made a prima facie case, be required to go further with his evidence. It is only fair since the Superintendent filed the charges that he be required to prove them before ordering plaintiff's discharge.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. Tonkin v. JACKSON COUNTY MERIT SYSTEM COM'N