Walbrun v. Babbitt’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

12 federal appellate · 23 district · 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 72 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. ““Tlia usual and ordinary course of Mendelson’s business was to sell. at retail a miscellaneous stock of goods common to country stores in a small town in the interior of the state of Missouri. It was to conduct a business of this character that the goods were sold to him, and as long as he pursued’the course of a retailer his creditors could not reach the property disposed of by him, even if his purpose at the time was to defraud them, but it is wholly a different thing when he sells his entire stock to one or more persons. It is an unusual occurrence, out of the ordinary mode of transacting swh a business, is prima facie evidence of fraud, and throws the burden of proof on the purchaser to sustain the validity of his purchase.””

   4 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. In re Knopf · In re Knopf

2. ““But the law will not let him escape in this way. The question raised by the statute is not his actual belief, but what he had reasonable cause to believe. In purchasing in the way and under the circumstances he did, the law told him that a fraud of some kind was intended on the. part of the seller, and he was put on inquiry to ascertain the true condition of Mendelson’s [the bankrupt vendor] business. This he did not do, nor did he make any attempt in that direction. Indeed, he contended himself with limiting his inquiries to the object Mendelson had in selling out, and to his future purposes. Something more was required than this information to repel the presumption of fraud which the law raised in the mere fact of a retail merchant selling out his entire stock of goods. If this sort of information could sustain the sale, the provision of the bankrupt law we are considering would be no protection to creditors, for any one in Mendelson’s situation, and with the purpose he had in view, would be likely to give the party with whom he was dealing a plausible reason for his conduct. The presumption of fraud arising from the unusual nature of the sale in this case can only be overcome by proof on the part of the buyer that he took the proper steps to find out the pecuniary condition of the seller. All reasonable means, pursued in good faith, must be used for this purpose. If Summerfield [the vendee] had employed any means at all directed to this end, he would have discovered the a”

   2 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. In re Pease · Dokken v. Page

3. ““The usual and ordinary course of Mendelson’s business was to sell at retail a miscellaneous stock of goods common to country stores in a small town in the interior of the state of Missouri. * * * But it is a wholly different thing when he sells his entire stock to one or more persons. This is an unusual occurrence, out of the ordinary mode of transacting such a business, is prima facie evidence of fraud, and throws the burden of proof on the purchaser to sustain the validity of his purchase. Sumerfield seeks to overthrow the legal presumption that Mendelson intended to commit a fraud on his creditors by showing that he paid full value for the goods in ignorance of the condition of Mendelson’s affairs. But the law will not let him escape in this way. The question raised by the statute is not his actual belief, but what he had reasonable cause to believe. In purchasing in the way and under the circumstances he did, the law told him that a fraud of some kind was intended on the part of the seller, and he was put on inquiry to ascertain the true condition of Mendelson’s business. This he did not do, nor did he make any attempt in that direction. Indeed, he contented himself with limiting his inquiries to the object Mendelson had in selling out and to his future purposes. Something more was required than this information to repel the presumption of fraud which the law raised in the mere fact of a retail merchant selling out his entire stock of goods. * * * In choosing to remain i”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Hawkeye Land Co. v. Evans