Riddle v. Anderson’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

13 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 13 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “Since under our system of jurisprudence our courts in most cases have no way of knowing how or why a jury reached their verdict in a given case, the presence of passion, prejudice, partiality or corruption on the part of the jury, or whether they disregarded instructions, acted under misapprehension or mistake can only be a matter of surmise by a reviewing court. The test in the last analysis must simply be whether the award when scrutinized under the law and indisputable facts of the case at hand is so inadequate that it should not be permitted to stand. ... In order to determine if the verdict is inadequate we must review the entire record to determine whether an injustice has occurred.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. 124 Pa. Commw. 172 - Hill v. PA. BUR. OF CORR.

2. “Considering the jury’s finding of negligence on the part of both defendants and the uncontradicted testimony regarding Riddle’s injuries and consequent losses, we must consequently agree that the jury apparently disregarded or misapprehended its instructions. Moreover, while it is true that the jury does not have to accept as true even uncontradicted evidence, it is also true that, where a jury verdict goes against the overwhelming, uncontradicted testimony, the court may set aside the verdict as being clearly against the weight of the evidence. (Citations omitted.)”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. Roberts v. Dungan