Watts v. Jensen’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

10 federal appellate · 7 district · 2 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 26 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. ““But counsel argue that the negligence of the servant of appellants in placing the keg in the position stated was not the proximate cause of the injury; that it was the negligence of the stevedore in piling the covers, and the negligence of the stevedore in stepping on the covers, that was the proximate cause of the accident that occurred. Of course, if the man or boy had not run against or stepped upon the covers, there might not have been any accident at that particular time. But it was not the covers, nor the person that stepped on the covers, that was the real cause of the injury. You can twist and turn the facts in any direction which the ingenuity and ability of counsel may suggest, but the mind is inevitably forced to the conclusion that it was the negligent placing of the keg in a dangerous position that constituted the efficient and controlling cause of the injury. It was the natural result which in the light of the attending circumstances, the appellants ought reasonably to have foreseen might occur when the keg was put upon the covers; and one which, by the exercise of ordinary care and prudence, they should have guarded against. They were required to use such precautions to avoid danger as a person of ordinary prudence would use for his own protection. It makes no difference whether it was a man or a dog that ran against or stepped upon the covers, or whether it was a jar occasioned by the falling of a heavy box, or a gale of wind. It was the placing of the keg in”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Mason v. Herrin Transfer & Warehouse Co.

2. ““Proof of an injury occurring to defendant as the proximate result of an act which, under ordinary circumstances, would not, if done with due care, have injured any one, is enough to make out a presumption of negligence. When a thing which causes injury is shown to be under the management of the defendant, and the accident is such as, in the ordinary course of things, does not happen if those who have the management use proper care, it affords reasonable evidence, in the absence of explanation by the defendant, that the accident arose from a want of care.””

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Whitten v. Nevada Power, Light & Water Co.

3. ““What duty did appellants owe to appellee? Their duty was to provide ■him a safe place in which to work, and to exercise ordinary and due diligence and care in keeping the premises reasonably secure against injury or ■danger. This is the pith and substance of -all the decisions upon this subject, as expressed in a great variety of cases, each having reference to the special facts and surroundings of the evidence relating thereto.””

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Pioneer S. S. Co. v. McCann