Dowling v. Richardson-Merrell, Inc.’s Empirical Analysis
727 F.2d 608 · 1984
Citation profile
27 federal appellate · 2 district · 12 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 71 later decisions — most recently May 2019 · most notably Hoffman v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (1988), 54 Cal. 3d 744 - Stangvik v. Shiley Inc. (1991)
27 federal appellate · 2 district · 12 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
Relies on Gulf Oil Corporation v. Gilbert · Piper Aircraft Co. v. Reyno · Koster v. Lumbermens Mut Casualty Co · Garber v. United States · Calavo Growers v. Belgium
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 71 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“[T]he defendant seeking a forum non conveniens dismissal must identify an alternative forum. Once the existence of such a forum is established the trial court must consider the private interests of the litigants and factors of public interest in determining relative convenience of the forum chosen by the plaintiff as opposed to the available alternative forum. Among the important private interest considerations are “the relative ease of access to sources of proof; availability of compulsory process for attendance of unwilling, and the cost of obtaining attendance of unwilling, witnesses; possibility of view of premises, if view would be appropriate to the action; and all other practical problems that make trial of a case easy, expeditious and inexpensive.” The court must also consider problems of enforcing a judgment if one is obtained and relative advantages and obstacles to a fair trial, if any. “But unless the balance is strongly in favor of the defendant, the plaintiffs choice of forum should rarely be disturbed.” The Court also identified relevant public interest factors: administrative difficulties of courts with congested dockets; the burden of jury duty on people of a community having no connection with the litigation; desirability of holding a trial near those most affected by it (“There is local interest in having localized controversies decided at home.”); appropriateness of holding a trial in a diversity case in a court which is familiar with governing law.”
6 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“The interest of the United Kingdom in this litigation is great. The drug was manufactured under a British license by British companies and was marketed and prescribed in the United Kingdom. The alleged injuries took place in England and Scotland and the plaintiffs are citizens and residents of those countries. When a regulated industry, such as pharmaceuticals in this case and passenger aircraft operations in Piper Aircraft, is involved, the country where the injury occurs has a particularly strong interest in product liability litigation. This interest is highlighted in the present cases by the plaintiffs' charge that the defendant concealed adverse test results from the national health authorities in Great Britain. Though no single factor should be determinative in ruling on a forum non conveniens motion, the nature of the product and its status as regulated or not must be considered.”
3 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“[I]f the remedy provided by the alternative forum is so clearly inadequate or unsatisfactory that it is no remedy at all, the unfavorable change in law may be given substantial weight; the district court may conclude that dismissal would not be in the interests of justice.”
2 later decisions 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.