Ayres v. Canales’s Empirical Analysis
1990
Citation profile
47 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 49 later decisions — most recently September 2015 · most notably Spears v. Fourth Court of Appeals (1990), National Medical Enterprises, Inc. v. Godbey (1996)
47 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.
Appellate journey
reviewedthe decision below (from Texas Court of Appeals, 5th District (Dallas))
Relationships
Relies on Borman v. Borman · West v. Solito · NCNB Texas National Bank v. Coker · Garcia v. Peeples · Cossette v. Country Style Donuts, Inc.
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 49 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“(1) the testimony relates to an uncontested issue; (2) the testimony will relate solely to a matter of formality and there is no reason to believe that substantial evidence will be offered in opposition to the testimony; (3) the testimony relates to the nature and value of legal services rendered in the case; (4) the lawyer is a party to the action and is appearing pro se; or (5) the lawyer has promptly notified opposing counsel that the lawyer expects to testify in the matter and disqualification of the lawyer would work substantial hardship on the client.”
6 later decisions quote this exact passage“A witness is required to testify on the basis of personal knowledge, while an advocate is expected to explain and comment on evidence given by others. It may not be clear whether a statement by an advocate-witness should be taken as proof or as an analysis of the proof.”
3 later decisions quote this exact passage“Disqualification is a severe remedy. Disqualification is a measure that can cause immediate harm by depriving a party of its chosen counsel and disrupting court proceedings. Thus, “[m]ere allegations of unethical conduct or evidence showing a remote possibility of a violation of the disciplinary rules will not suffice” to merit disqualification. The fact that a lawyer serves as both an advocate and a witness does not in itself compel disqualification. Disqualification is only appropriate if the lawyer’s testimony is “necessary to establish an essential fact.” Consequently, the party requesting disqualification must demonstrate that the opposing lawyer’s dual roles as attorney and witness will cause the party actual prejudice. Without these limitations, the rule could be improperly employed “as a tactical weapon to deprive the opposing party of the right to be represented by the lawyer of his or her choice.””
2 later decisions 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.