Dillon v. Legg’s Empirical Analysis
1968
Citation profile
115 federal appellate · 54 district · 1,598 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 1,933 later decisions (6 by the Supreme Court) — most recently April 2021 · most notably Rowland v. Christian (1968), 17 Cal. 3d 425 - Tarasoff v. Regents of University of California (1976)
115 federal appellate · 54 district · 1,598 state decisions — followed in 47 states
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
Relies on Palsgraf v. Long Island R.R. Co. · 56 Cal. 2d 583 - Lucas v. Hamm · 49 Cal. 2d 647 - Biakanja v. Irving · 59 Cal. 2d 295 - Amaya v. Home Ice, Fuel & Supply Co. · 43 Cal. 2d 60 - Richards v. Stanley
Cited together with Rowland v. Christian · 48 Cal. 3d 644 - Thing v. La Chusa · 27 Cal. 3d 916 - Molien v. Kaiser Foundation Hospitals · 39 Cal. 3d 159 - Ochoa v. Superior Court · 17 Cal. 3d 425 - Tarasoff v. Regents of University of California
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 1,933 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“(1) Whether plaintiff was located near the scene of the accident as contrasted with one who was a distance away from it. (2) Whether the shock resulted from a direct emotional impact upon plaintiff from the sensory and contemporaneous observance of the accident, as contrasted with learning of the accident from others after its occurrence. (3) Whether plaintiff and the victim were closely related, as contrasted with an absence of any relationship or the presence of only a distant relationship.”
133 later decisions quote this exact passage“only an expression of the sum total of those considerations of policy which lead the law to say that the particular plaintiff is entitled to protection.”
21 later decisions quote this exact passage“'In order to limit the otherwise potentially infinite liability which would follow every negligent act, the law of torts holds defendant amenable only for injuries to others which to defendant at the time were reasonably foreseeable. [¶] ... As a classic opinion states:”
14 later decisions quote this exact passage
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.