Armstrong v. Mudd’s Empirical Analysis
1987
Citation profile
1 federal appellate · 3 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 7 later decisions — most recently May 2002
1 federal appellate · 3 state decisions
Later decisions citing this case, by decade. The current decade is in progress, and our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so the latest bars are undercounted — not a real decline.
Relationships
Applies 28 U.S.C. § 1332 (Class Action Fairness Act of 2005)
Relies on Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc. · Celotex Corporation v. Catrett H · Erie Co v. Tompkins · Adickes v. S. H. Kress & Co. · Improvement Company v. Munson
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 7 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“Clearly, the direct and proximate cause of [plaintiff's decedent’s] death was the utter disregard by [the law violator] of authority in running from the police and his lack of due care in reckless operation of his vehicle. "The officers would have been derelict in their duty had they not pursued the escapee in the reasonable manner in which they did pursue him."”
2 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“We must not forget that the primary duty was upon the pursued to stop... . It is hardly necessary to point out the overriding public policy of apprehending criminals as rapidly as possible, thus eliminating continued criminal acts, as a factor outweighing the undesirable consequences of holding an officer liable for the damages sustained by a third party... . We are not prepared to hold an officer liable for damages inflicted by the driver of a ... vehicle whom he was lawfully attempting to apprehend for the fortuitous reason only that the criminal drove through an urban area. To do so would open the door for every desperado to seek sanctuary in the congested confines of our municipalities, serene in the knowledge that an officer would not likely give chase for fear of being liable for the pursued's recklessness.”
1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority““Police cannot be made insurers of the conduct of the culprits they chase.” The policy of safeguarding life and property by apprehending a fleeing suspect who, by electing to run, recklessly endangers innocent parties must be balanced against the possibility of injury upon commencing the pursuit. In other words, an officer’s duty to drive with due care must be gauged in relation to the surrounding circumstances.”
1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
How this case has been treated — in progress
Whether each later court followed, distinguished, criticized, or overruled this decision. The treatment classification (task #35) runs highest-cited cases first and lights up here as it reaches this one.