Lignell v. Berg’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

2 federal appellate · 31 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 35 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “1. BBC [unlicensed contractor] has not failed to satisfy the licensing authority of its technical competence and financial qualification for license. It had inadvertently permitted its license to lapse. Restoration of licensed status involved no new demonstration of qualification, but only payment of fee. 2. The Owners did not rely on any BBC competence they inferred from BBC’s having advertised itself as a general contractor. They had previously employed BBC as a builder in apartment house construction. Moreover, the Owners usurped the general contractor’s prerogatives in constructing the Terrace Incline complex. They relied on their own competence. 3. BBC supplied a performance bond as well as a labor and material suppliers payment bond. The Owners were infinitely better assured of adequate and complete performance without financial exposure beyond the contract price than they would have been by BBC’s mere compliance with the licensing statute. 8”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. George v. Oren Ltd. & Associates

2. “The general rule is not applied unconditionally, but only under circumstances in which the "party from whom the contractor seeks to recover is in the class the legislature intended to protect." The purpose behind taking this approach is to avoid unreasonable penalties and forfeitures which go, not to the state, but to repudiated defendants. Laws intended for protecting the public are not intended to become "an unwarranted shield for the avoidance of a just obligation," and should not allow a "defendant to take the benefit of an unlicensed plaintiff's labor and refuse to pay for it."”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. Govert Copier Painting v. Van Leeuwen

3. “The authority to consolidate actions for trial is provided by the rules in the interests of efficient judicial administration. As is true of any other kind of judicial discretion, it is subject to abuse....”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. Westgate Resorts, Ltd. v. Shaun S. Adel & Consumer Protection Group, LLC