Donovan v. General Motors’s Empirical Analysis
762 F.2d 701 · 1985
Citation profile
9 federal appellate · 12 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 26 later decisions — most recently June 2010 · most notably Rowley v. Mayor of Baltimore (1986), Hatch v. V.P. Fair Foundation, Inc. (1999)
9 federal appellate · 12 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 Majestic Realty Associates, Inc. v. Toti Contracting Co. · Melerine v. Avondale Shipyards, Inc. · Salmon v. Kansas City · GLARRATANO v. Weitz Company · McDonnell Aircraft Corp. v. Hartman-Hanks-Walsh Painting Co.
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 26 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“In this case Donovan fell from a roof under construction by the independent contractor. None of the evidence suggests that Donovan's fall had anything to do with the condition of GM's premises before the independent contractor came on those premises. Therefore, we find the safe workplace doctrine derived from Restatement § 343 to be inapposite here. The damage alleged here did not arise out of any failure by GM to provide a safe workplace but out of the manner in which the work was done by the independent contractor.”
1 later decision quote this exact passagee.g. English v. Kienke“[A]ny issue of fact can become an issue of law for the court if the historical facts are undisputed and reasonable minds could not differ on the ultimate fact. Here the historical facts, the nature of the work, are undisputed, but reasonable minds could differ on whether working on an unfinished roof at a height of approximately 28 feet is work which “necessarily presents a substantial risk of damage unless adequate precautions are taken.””
1 later decision quote this exact passage“necessarily presents a substantial risk of damage unless adequate precautions are taken.”
1 later decision 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.