Phipps v. Amtrak’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. “The record indicates that Phipps was clearly aware of the design of the observation car and that crossing from one side of the car to the other required a step across the recessed aisle down which she had walked to reach the middle of the car. Any danger involved in negotiating the step across the aisle was patently obvious and easily avoidable. This finding is supported by the fact that Phipps crossed the aisle with no problem at least three times within the hour before the 15accident. Had Phipps been seated on one side of the car for over an hour without moving, it may have been reasonable that she forgot the existence of the recessed aisle as she attempted to move, for the first time, from one side of the train to the other. However, in light of the fact that Phipps successfully crossed the aisle multiple times within a short time span before the accident, we find that a reasonable person, exercising ordinary care, would not have forgotten in such a short time that a step across the recessed aisle was necessary to get from one side of the train to the other.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. 710 So. 2d 358 - Hamilton v. Kansas City Southern Railway Co.