Thompson v. Gray & Co.’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

3 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 4 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “At several places in Moody , beginning with the court’s issue statement, the Supreme Court refers to situations where a third party suit is brought or recovery is effected by the injured employee, without any distinction between these situations. This necessarily implies the Court saw no' differentiation between these situations with respect to this rule. Furthermore, the same rationale which compelled the Court’s conclusion in Moody that the compensation carrier should pay a proportionate share of the attorneys’ fees also applies to situations where the worker’s attorney effects recovery without filing suit. In its most basic form, this rationale is that the compensation carrier, who is a co-owner with the employee of the right to recover damages from the negligent third party, should not be unjustly enriched at the expense of the employee when the efforts of the latter’s attorney resulted in benefits accruing to the compensation carrier, especially where the carrier has tacitly consented to the acts of the employee’s attorney. * * * * * * In such situations, the compensation carrier is riding on the coattails of the employee no less than in a case where the carrier intervenes in the employee’s suit and relies upon the latter’s attorney to carry the case forward to recovery. In both cases, the compensation carrier has not contributed to the recovery obtained, but has nonetheless benefitted from the efforts of the employee’s attorney.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. 679 So. 2d 909 - Gray Insurance Co. v. Salvatierra