Todd v. Richmond’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

1 federal appellate · 4 district ·

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

1. “[T]he plaintiffs suit is primarily concerned with challenging the propriety of the trustee’s actions. Still, the plaintiffs claimed interest in the trust funds and right to any relief will depend upon the plaintiff showing a real likelihood of liability exposure to warranty contract holders. Liability exposure cannot be determined without knowing the actual and projected amount of valid claims made by warranty contract holders during the liquidation proceeding and later. The determination of which claims are valid is when many of the above issues will be addressed. The defendant does not seriously dispute that these issues may need to be decided during this litigation. In all likelihood, the state court will decide the same issues during the liquidation process, thus creating the possibility for different rulings and the injustice resulting from that. Alternatively, it would place the federal court in the undesirable position of interpreting and applying the state court’s decision regarding such matters as the bar date for claims and the accrual date for warranty claims. Abstention avoids all of this and prevents this court from frustrating the state court’s ability to establish and enforce a uniform and coherent policy for dealing with NCIC’s liquidation. Even assuming the state and federal courts would cooperate to minimize those conflicts, the cost of piecemeal litigation would be great for the parties and the courts. From what has been presented, the court believes the is”

   2 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. 861 F. Supp. 1531 - Todd v. DSN Dealer Service Network, Inc. · 35 F. Supp. 2d 1297 - In Re Universe Life Ins. Co.

2. “The factors favoring abstention here are without the weight and number to defeat the strong preference in favor of exercising federal court jurisdiction____ The central substantive issues do not implicate important public policy problems for Kansas, do not present complex questions or interpretation disputes of Kansas insurance law, do not require significant familiarity with local regulatory facts and policies, do not require the court to review the decisions of the liquidator or the liquidation court, and do not appear to even be governed by Kansas law. The case can be decided without undermining the liquidator’s control of NCIC and the liquidator’s equitable distribution powers over the estate, without subjecting the liquidator to expensive, time-consuming and expansive litigation in multiple forums outside of the liquidation proceeding, and without disrupting the state’s establishment of a coherent policy for liquidation proceedings.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. 861 F. Supp. 1531 - Todd v. DSN Dealer Service Network, Inc.