Grogan v. Commonwealth’s Empirical Analysis
1979
Citation profile
2 federal appellate · 18 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 24 later decisions — most recently May 2006
2 federal appellate · 18 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
Relies on Haney v. City of Lexington · Modlin v. City of Miami Beach · City of Louisville v. Louisville Seed Company · Frankfort Variety, Inc. v. City of Frankfort · City of Russellville v. Greer
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 24 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“There is, of course, the familiar principle that one who undertakes the care of another, or of his property, even though it be voluntary and without consideration, owes him the duty of reasonable care. But in the enactment of laws designed for the public safety a governmental unit does not undertake to perform the task; it attempts only to compel others to do it, and as one of the means of enforcing that purpose it may direct its officers and employes to perform an inspection function. The failure of its officers and employes to perform that function “does not constitute a tort committed against an individual who may incidentally suffer injury or damage, in common with others, by reason of such default.” City of Russellville v. Greer, Ky., 440 S.W.2d 269, 271 (1969).”
2 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“`[A] government ought to be free to enact laws for the public protection without thereby exposing its supporting taxpayers ... to liability for failures of omission in its attempt to enforce them. It is better to have such laws, even haphazardly enforced, than not to have them at all.'”
2 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“As observed in Frankfort Variety, Inc. v. City of Frankfort, Ky., 552 S.W.2d 653, 655 (1977), our most recent opinion on the subject, “a city’s relationship to individuals and to the public is not the same as if the city itself were a private individual or corporation, and its duties are not the same. When it undertakes measures for the protection of its citizens, it is not to be held to the same standards of performance that would be required of a professional organization hired to do the job. If it were, it very well might hesitate to undertake them.... A city cannot be held liable for its omission to do all the things that could or should have been done in an effort to protect life and property.””
1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
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.