Goss v. Hutchins’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

19 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 19 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “The rule in Tennessee before the adoption of the Tennessee Rules of Civil Procedure was that the failure to correctly identify a defendant in the caption was not a fatal defect if the bill itself stated a cause of action against the defendant. See Altman v. Third National Bank, 30 Tenn. App. 81, 88 , 203 S.W.2d 701, 704 (1947); Rose v. Third National Bank, 27 Tenn. App. 553, 564-65 , 183 S.W.2d 1, 5-6 (1944). The adoption of the Tennessee Rules of Civil Procedure has not changed this rule. Although Rule 10.01 requires the caption of a complaint to name all parties, this is merely a technical requirement. See Blanchard v. Terry & Wright, Inc., 331 F.2d 467, 469 (6th Cir.1964), cert. denied, 379 U.S. 831 , 85 S.Ct. 62 , 13 L.Ed.2d 40 (1964); 5 C. Wright & A Miller, Federal Practice and Procedure § 1321 at 460-61 (1969). The caption requirement of Rule 10 is merely for identification purposes, and does not control who is a party in the action. Greenwood v. Ross, 778 F.2d 448, 452 (8th Cir.1985); Blanchard v. Terry & Wright, Inc., supra, at 469; 5 C. Wright & A. Miller, supra, at 458-59. The issue of who is a proper party defendant must be determined from the allegations of the complaint. Tyrolf v. Veterans Administration, 82 F.R.D. 372, 374-75 (E.D.La.1979); 5 C. Wright & A. Miller, supra. An examination of the complaint filed in the first action reveals that a suit against the decedent’s representative was intended by plaintiff.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. Legleu v. Clarksville Department of Electricity

2. “To raise the issue of lack of legal existence or capacity in this case, it was necessary that defendant answering on behalf of the representative of the decedent’s estate, assert in clear and unmistakable English, that has a single meaning, to-wit: that no party having the legal capacity to represent the decedent has been sued or served with process. The fact that such a specific negative averment will likely result in a prompt curative amendment by plaintiff does not reduce the stringency of the rule.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. Richard Liput v. Bobby Grinder