625 So. 2d 438 - Evans v. Evans’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 3 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “"Our research also has revealed a situation similar to [ Ex parte ] Parker [, 334 So.2d 911 (Ala.Civ.App. 1976),] in Null v. Null , 423 So.2d 887 (Ala.Civ.App. 1982). In Null , this court held that it was error for a trial court to find a wife in contempt for a failure to pay certain of the parties' debts which she agreed to pay in a supplemental contract between the parties. In reversing the trial court, we stated that the agreement constituted "`either a simple business transaction, or, at most, a property settlement. . . . Either view of the evidence compels us to say that a debt ex contractu was involved, the payment of which could not be coerced by a contempt citation.'" Id. , at 888 (quoting [ Ex parte ] Parker [, 334 So.2d at 912 ]). "In both [ Ex parte ] Parker and Null , an agreement between the parties was involved, wherein one of the parties willingly assumed certain financial responsibilities. It was this contractual characteristic which gave rise to a debt ex contractu and which, therefore, precluded enforcement by a contempt citation. See, e.g. , Ala. Const. art. I , § 20 (stating `[t]hat no person shall be imprisoned for debt')."”

   2 later decisions quote this exact passage
   e.g. Smith v. Smith · 920 So. 2d 573 - Dolberry v. Dolberry