Richardson v. Schafer’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

2 federal appellate · 3 district ·

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

1. “Sensing a need for reform of the exemption scheme in place under the Bankruptcy Act, Congress tasked a legislative commission with modernizing bankruptcy laws to address a “[l]ack of uniformity in the treatment of debtors.” See Eric A. Posner, The Political Economy of the Bankruptcy Reform Act of 1978, 96 Mich. L.Rev. 47, 68 (1997) (citing Report of the Comm’n on the Bankr. Laws of the United States, H.R. Doc. No. 93-187, at 4 (1973)). That commission recommended adopting a set of uniform federal exemptions, but a “last minute compromise thwarted this attempt at uniformity.” Maria D. Wells, Note, Federal Bankruptcy Exemptions: How Far Out Is Opting Out?, 37 Baylor L.Rev. 811, 814 (1985). Unfortunately, there is “scant available legislative history” that could provide an insight into what the drafters intended the scope of the opt-out provision to be. James B. Haines, Jr., Section 522’s Opt-Out Clause: Debtors’ Bankruptcy Exemptions in a Sorry State, 1988 Ariz. St. L.J. 1 , 8 (1983).”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. In re Willis

2. “those instances where the challenged state law 'stands as an obstacle to the accomplishment and execution of the full purposes and objectives of Congress' ") (citations omitted); Schafer , 689 F.3d at 614 (explaining that "under 'conflict preemption,' the laws in question conflict such that it is impossible for a party to comply with both laws simultaneously, or where the enforcement of the state law would hinder or frustrate the full purposes and objectives of the federal law”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. K&M Elec. Servs., Inc. v. Vito (In re Vito)

3. “affords the states the authority to restrict their respective residents to exemptions promulgated by the state legislatures, if they so choose. This statutory provision is an express delegation to the states of the power to create state exemptions in lieu of the federal bankruptcy exemption scheme. Congress has not seen fit to restrict the authority delegated to the states by requiring that state exemptions apply equally to bankruptcy and non-bankruptcy cases....”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. McFarland v. Wallace