Polk v. Blanque’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

10 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 10 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “As an absurd example, suppose that after breaking a vase, a person fell and broke a leg. If we inferred that breaking the vase caused the accident, we'd be guilty of the post hoc fallacy. A more serious example is found in Egyptian history. Egyptians used to worship a bird named the ibis because each year, shortly after flocks of ibis had migrated to the banks of the Nile, the river overflowed its banks and irrigated the soil. The Egyptians believed the ibis caused the flood water, when of course both the birds' migration and the river's overflow were attributable to the change of season.”

   3 later decisions quote this exact passage
   e.g. 758 So. 2d 923 - Sommer v. State, Department of Transportation & Development · 703 So. 2d 681 - Wall v. Progressive Barge Line, Inc.

2. “Duty is a question of law: simply put, the inquiry is whether the plaintiff has any law—statutory or jurisprudential—to support his claim that the defendant owes him a duty.”

   2 later decisions quote this exact passage
   e.g. 951 So. 2d 425 - Palermo v. Port of New Orleans · 933 So. 2d 168 - Palermo v. Port of New Orleans

3. “3 * * * * * * 3. Barry, V.E. and Soccio, D.J., Practical Logic, 3rd ed.1988 at p. 244. In discussing fallacies of causation, the authors write:”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. 703 So. 2d 681 - Wall v. Progressive Barge Line, Inc.