Handley v. May’s Empirical Analysis
1979
Citation profile
9 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 12 later decisions — most recently December 2018
9 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 Gertz v. Robert Welch, Inc. · Memphis Publishing Co. v. Nichols · Altoona Clay Products, Inc. v. Dun & Bradstreet, Inc. v. C. R. Grove, Joined as by Court Order. Altoona Clay Products, Inc. v. Dun & Bradstreet, Inc. v. C. R. Grove, Joined as by Court Order · 68 Ga. App. 314 - Mell v. Edge · 44 Mich. App. 416 - Pursell v. Wolverine-Pentronix, Inc
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 12 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“We need not define “actual injury,” as trial courts have wide experience in framing appropriate jury instructions in tort actions. Suffice it to say that actual injury is not limited to out-of-pocket loss. Indeed, the more customary types of actual harm inflicted by defamatory falsehood include impairment of reputation and standing in the community, personal humiliation, and mental anguish and suffering. Of course, juries must be limited by appropriate instructions, and all awards must be supported by competent evidence concerning the injury, although there need be no evidence which assigns an actual dollar value to the injury.”
4 later decisions quote this exact passage“Our Supreme Court recently noted that the United States Supreme Court has eliminated, on constitutional grounds, presumed damages in defamation suits. The plaintiff is now required to prove actual damages in all defamation cases.”
1 later decision quote this exact passagee.g. Emerson v. Garner
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.