Van Tassell v. Shaffer’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

1 district · 3 state decisions

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

1. “Because Gass explicitly allows the statute of limitations to be tolled during a defendant’s absence, we must uphold the trial court’s ruling that the statute of limitations was tolled during defendant’s absences even though he was amenable to service of process under Utah R. Civ. P. 4. We must also assume that proceedings under the nonresident motorist act are the only Utah proceedings in which the applicable statute of limitations is not tolled by absence from the state until and unless the Utah Supreme Court states otherwise. We observe, however, that the majority view, which holds that defendant’s absence does not toll the statute of limitations where defendant is amenable to personal jurisdiction, would be preferred by this Court as the Utah rule, as we find it to be more consistent with the purposes of statutes of limitations.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. Lund v. Hall

2. “Snyder can arguably be distinguished from the other three cases because it involved defendants who . left the state immediately after the automobile accident which was the basis of the suit. If the statute of limitations had been tolled due to defendants’ absence, the action against the nonresident motorist may have been in suspense forever. In comparison, residents presumably will eventually return to the state, even though some residents’ absences may total many years.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. Ankers v. Rodman

3. “[T]he purpose of statutes of limitations would be undermined if the tolling statute were applied in cases where defendant is at all times amenable to service of process ____ [T]o allow tolling to operate would mean that actions against absent defendants would practically never be outlawed and that claims may be held in suspense for years even though the action could have been commenced through substituted service.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. Ankers v. Rodman