64 Ark. App. 147 - Wakefield v. Wakefield’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

14 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 14 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “We do not agree with the chancellor that appellant should be found in willful contempt, and we find his order to be arbitrary and against the weight of the evidence. The evidence does not reflect that the appellant’s fears were completely unfounded. Although he did not find any evidence of sexual abuse, the judge himself noted that the mother was doing what she thought was best for her children. Further, it was a medical doctor who ordered that the child be admitted and supervised in a hospital, and we do not believe that appellant was unreasonable in obeying the doctor’s order. In fact, as noted, sexual abuse was not completely ruled out by the experts. And appellant’s expert witnesses stated that although there was no physical evidence of sexual abuse, they saw signs of sexual abuse. Even the appellees’ expert witness did not preclude the possibility that [¶] had been subjected to sexual abuse. Moreover, she stated that it would not be abnormal for a mother to be overly worried when she had been told by .two experts that there was a very good possibility that her daughter had been sexually abused. Based upon the testimony presented, there was evidence from which appellant could have reasonably concluded that her daughter might have been sexually abused by her grandfather. Under these circumstances, we cannot say that a mother who is legitimately concerned about the welfare of her child and has acted upon the advice of DHS and qualified professionals is in willful contempt o”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. Hunt v. Perry

2. “I am not unsympathetic to a parent’s interest in protecting his or her child from what is perceived to be a potentially dangerous situation. However, in my view, if a parent willfully disregards a court order regarding visitation, and does so without any effort to obtain emergency relief from the appropriate chancery court, the parent proceeds at his or her peril. If the evidence adduced at a subsequent hearing reveals to the satisfaction of the chancellor that the child’s safety would not have been compromised, then the intentional failure to allow visitation is without justification and an order of willful contempt is the proper sanction. I submit that this is exactly what occurred in this case.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the dissent
   e.g. Hunt v. Perry