Felli v. Commonwealth’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

11 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 12 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “Our supreme court has recognized that DOT owes a legal duty to those using its real estate to ensure ‘that the condition of the property is safe for the activities for which it is regularly used, intended to be used or reasonably foreseen to be used.’ ... Because of this general duty, in certain instances, the common law imposes an additional duty on a government party to reduce risks posed by steep cliffs and embankments in close proximity to the highway by erecting guiderails or other barriers.... However, there is a corresponding duty on all motorists to use the highways in the ordinary and usual manner and with reasonable care, ..., and where an accident is the result of a motorist’s failure to use the highway in such a manner, there can be no liability against DOT.... Here, there is no dispute that the vehicle crossed the highway and left the road because of a loss of brakes, intoxication of the driver, or a combination of these factors. Under such circumstances, and even in circumstances which are less extreme, we have held that the resulting accident was too remote for DOT to have anticipated; thus, DOT had no duty to institute preventive measures.... Based on this analysis and these cases, we affirm the trial court’s grant of summary judgment in favor of DOT.... (Citations omitted).”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. Martinowski v. Commonwealth, Department of Transportation

2. “The accident occurred in this case because Mr. Felli’s vehicle crossed into the left lane and exited the road at a place opposite where the car would normally have been traveling. This was not the usual or intended use of the highway, nor was it reasonably foreseeable that a motorist from the opposite lane of traffic would inexplicably cross and then leave the road. While the outcome may be different if a motorist was traveling on the same side of the road and was forced off the roadway and over an embankment, an accident caused by a vehicle leaving the road from the opposite side is too remote for PennDOT to have anticipated it and to have a duty to mitigate .... However tragic the resulting injuries, a vehicle crossing the center line and leaving the travelled portion of the highway is not the ordinary and usual manner for using the highway and there is no basis for liability against PennDOT. (Footnote omitted).”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. Martinowski v. Commonwealth, Department of Transportation

3. “The General Assembly.. .does hereby waive... sovereign immunity as a bar to an action against Commonwealth parties, for damages arising out of a negligent act where the damages would be recoverable under the common law or a statute creating a cause of action if the injury were caused by a person not having available the defense of sovereign immunity. (Emphasis added.)”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. Dean v. Commonwealth, Department of Transportation