Hanlin v. Mitchelson’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

2 federal appellate · 2 district · 2 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 16 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “I am writing to notify you of my objection to the manner and method of your deposition of the plaintiff, Randy Hipsher on July 12, 1990 in Logansport, Indiana. As you are aware, you had served notice on each of the plaintiffs and upon witness, Steve Smith, to appear for depositions at the law office of John Hillis on July 12, 1990. Your notices indicated that Mr. Hipsher’s deposition would begin at 10:00 a.m. and be followed by Mike Langley’s deposition at 1:00 p.m., followed by Melonie Smith’s deposition at 3:00 p.m., followed by Steve Smith’s deposition at 5:00 p.m. As you know, your direct examination portion of the deposition of Mr. Hipsher lasted from 10:15 a.m. until 7:15 p.m., less approximately 1 hour and 45 minutes for lunch and breaks. I believe I have made you aware on the record during the deposition, after the deposition last night, and again this morning by telephone, that I objected to your repetitive questioning of Mr. Hipsher and your inquisition into areas that were clearly irrelevant and not reasonably calculated to lead to the discovery of admissible evidence. I believe that your deposition of Mr. Hipsher was conducted in bad faith and in such manner as unreasonably to annoy, embarrass and oppress both Mr. Hipsher and his co-plaintiff, Me-lonie Smith. Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 30(d) clearly prohibits such manner of deposition. You obviously seek to conduct depositions of Melonie Smith, Mike Langley, and Steve Smith in the future. In the event you con”

   2 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Smith v. Logansport Community School Corp. · Biovail Laboratories, Inc. v. Anchen Pharmaceuticals, Inc.

2. “It is not the prerogative of counsel, but of the court, to rule on objections. Indeed, if counsel were to rule on the propriety of questions, oral examinations would be quickly reduced to an exasperating cycle of answerless inquiries and court orders. Alternatively, if the plaintiffs’ [defense] attorney believed that the examination was being conducted in bad faith ... or that the deponents were being needlessly annoyed, embarrassed, or oppressed, he should have halted the examination and applied immediately to the ex parte judge for a ruling on the questions, or for a ruling on the questions or for a protective order, pursuant to Rule 30(d). Shapiro v. Freeman, 38 F.R.D. 308, 311-12 (S.D.N.Y.1965) (footnotes omitted).”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Hearst/ABC-Viacom Entertainment Services v. Goodway Marketing, Inc.

3. “'steer away' from the shoals of this potentially devastating testimony”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Hanlin v. Mitchelson