Spradling v. Williams’s Empirical Analysis
1978
Citation profile
2 federal appellate · 64 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 68 later decisions — most recently January 2006 · most notably Doe v. Boys Clubs of Greater Dallas, Inc. (1995), Brown v. American Transfer & Storage Co. (1980)
2 federal appellate · 64 state decisions
Later decisions citing this case, by decade. The current decade is in progress, and our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so the latest bars are undercounted — not a real decline.
Relationships
Applies 15 U.S.C. § 45 (§ 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act of 1914)
Relies on Braunfeld v. Gibbons · Federal Trade Commission v. Standard Education Society · Hardy v. Toler · Florence Mfg. Co. v. J. C. Dowd & Co. · Charles of the Ritz Distributors Corp. v. Federal Trade Commission
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 68 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
““The term ‘DECEPTIVE TRADE PRACTICE’ means any false, misleading or deceptive acts or practices in the conduct of any trade or commerce. You are instructed that the term ‘false, misleading, or deceptive acts or practices’ means an act or series of acts which has the capacity or tendency to deceive an average or ordinary person, even though that person may have been ignorant, unthinking or credulous.””
4 later decisions quote this exact passage“The law was not made for the protection of experts, but for the public — that vast multitude which includes the ignorant, the unthinking and the credulous, who, in making purchases, do not stop to analyze, but are governed by appearances and general impressions.”
2 later decisions quote this exact passage“§ 17.46. Deceptive Trade Practices Unlawful (a) False, misleading, or deceptive acts or practices in the conduct of any trade or commerce are hereby declared unlawful. (b) The term ‘false, misleading, or deceptive acts or practices’ includes, but is not limited to, the following acts: (1) passing off goods or services as those of another; (2) causing confusion or misunderstanding as to the source, sponsorship, approval, or certification of goods or services;”
1 later decision quote this exact passage
How this case has been treated — in progress
Whether each later court followed, distinguished, criticized, or overruled this decision. The treatment classification (task #35) runs highest-cited cases first and lights up here as it reaches this one.