Melehes v. Wilson’s Empirical Analysis
1989
Citation profile
2 federal appellate · 5 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 8 later decisions — most recently October 2021
2 federal appellate · 5 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 27 Cal. 3d 489 - Becker v. S.P v. Construction Co. · Martin v. State · Fehlhaber v. Fehlhaber · 140 Cal. App. 3d 755 - Plotitsa v. Superior Court · White v. Fisher
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 8 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“the rationale [underlying the rule] is served equally well when that plaintiff states the nature of the injury ... and sets forth the specific elements of damages for which he seeks judgment. Under that form of general pleading[,] a defendant receives reasonable notice that he is at substantial monetary risk if he fails or chooses not to defend the action and suffers default. Our procedural rules charge a defendant in that situation with the knowledge that when the complaint demands unliquidated damages the district court shall conduct a hearing, take evidence, and determine an amount of damages based on the evidence presented to which the appellee is entitled. The lower court’s award on default judgment is always subject to our review on proper grounds shown.”
2 later decisions quote this exact passage“(b) The court may, and when requested by any party shall: (i) If a jury trial: (A) Direct the jury to find separate special verdicts determining the total amount of damages and the percentage of fault attributable to each actor whether or not a party[.]”
1 later decision quote this exact passage“exceed in amount that prayed for in the demand for judgment.”
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.