74 N.C. App. 231 - Atwell v. Atwell’s Empirical Analysis
1985
Citation profile
58 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 58 later decisions — most recently October 2018 · most notably 81 N.C. App. 71 - Boyd v. Boyd (1986), 171 N.C. App. 550 - Cunningham v. Cunningham (2005)
58 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 Quick v. Quick · Coble v. Coble · Beall v. Beall · Hudson v. Hudson · Plott v. Plott
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 58 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“'[i]t is not enough that there may be evidence in the record sufficient to support findings which could have been made. The trial court must itself determine what pertinent facts are actually established by the evidence before it . . . .'”
4 later decisions quote this exact passage“99. The plaintiff is an interested party acting in good faith who has insufficient means to defray the expenses of this action. . . . She is not entitled to receive attorneys’s fees for the portions of this case relating to equitable distribution and divorce. However, the time expended by plaintiff’s attorney regarding those issues has not been substantial 104. The trial of this case took fifteen days. Although a portion of the trial related to the issue of equitable distribution, the vast majority of the trial related to the issue of custody. ... 105. The plaintiff's] . . . attorney has been licensed to practice since 1969[,] . . . limits his practice to family law[,] ... is board certified in family law[,] . . . [and] charges $300.00 per hour[,] . . . which [b]ased upon ... his experience ... is reasonable. 107. The trial of this case has resulted in a substantial increase in attorney’s fees and time expended. The trial of this case, the preparation for trial, the staff time, [and] the attorney’s time have resulted in 244.8 hours of service. That time and services have a reasonable value of $64,830.00. ... Of this $64,830.00, at least 75% of that time and that fee have related to issues pertaining to custody, child support, and alimony. Of these fees, the defendant should pay the sum of $35,000.00.”
3 later decisions quote this exact passage“[T]he amount of attorney's fees is within the sound discretion of the trial judge and is only reviewable for an abuse of discretion.”
3 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.