Trulson v. Trane Co.’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

18 federal appellate · 2 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 36 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “The cases discussed thus far provide no clear practical definition of the statutory requirement that an employee is entitled to reemployment rights only if he or she quits work “in order to perform” military service, yet there is a common thread running through the opinions. The best way to reconcile these decisions seems to be that the phrase “in order to perform” means that the employee must provide good evidence of his or her motive for leaving work. Courts have not uniformly construed the statute to require proof that impending military service necessitated quitting work before a veteran may take advantage of the act’s protections nor will this court do so in light of the Supreme Court’s admonition that the act is to be liberally construed for the benefit of veterans returning to civilian life. Obviously, proof that something has happened that significantly limits a person’s freedom to choose whether to enter military service such as an induction notice or signing an enlistment contract is very good evidence that an employee’s motive in quitting is to enter the military. However, evidence of an employee’s pre-resignation intention or evidence of prompt action to effectuate that intention subsequent to quitting may also be effective means of proving that the motive for quitting a job was to join the military.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Lapine v. Town of Wellesley