75 N.C. App. 191 - Baker v. Duhan’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

2 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 2 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “Defendants contend that, as a matter of law, plaintiff’s prior knowledge of the dangerous condition operates to hold him contributorily negligent. We disagree. The general rule is that a person will not be held contributorily negligent as a matter of law for forgetting a known danger when, under the circumstances of the particular situation, a person of ordinary prudence would have forgotten or would have been inattentive to the danger because of the surrounding circumstances. Dennis v. Albemarle, 242 N.C. 263 , 87 S.E. 2d 561 (1955). On the facts of this case, we cannot say whether the surrounding circumstances— darkness, a growth of grass around the hole, the lapse of time between plaintiffs awareness of the hole and his injury — are sufficient to excuse plaintiffs contributory negligence. We believe, however, that the better view is to allow the jury to decide whether a person of ordinary prudence would have forgotten or would have been inattentive to the unsafe condition because of the surrounding circumstances.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. 204 N.C. App. 540 - Tyburski v. Stewart