Bressler v. McVey’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

12 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 12 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. ““If the plaintiff testified truly, the defendant owed him $500; if not, there was no indebtedness. The jury were called upon to determine which condition existed, but instead of doing so they assumed to settle the controversy by allowing one-half of the claim and disallowing the other half, no doubt with the idea that ‘splitting the difference’ was a fair method of compromising the dispute. But in this they mistook their function. Each litigant, the defendant no less than the plaintiff, was entitled to an answer to the question the jury were impaneled to determine.” (p. 343.)”

   2 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Sundgren v. Stevens · Winston v. McKnab

2. ““In deciding that he was not entitled to $500 they in effect refused to accept his version of the matter. The case was not one where by discrediting a portion of his testimony his claim could be allowed in part, nor was there room for error in computation or for misapprehension in estimating the amount of recovery.” (p. 342.)”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Hart v. Gerretson Co.