86 Wash. 2d 439 - Taskett v. King Broadcasting Co.’s Empirical Analysis
1976
Citation profile
6 federal appellate · 2 district · 92 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 108 later decisions — most recently November 2020 · most notably 48 Cal. 3d 711 - Brown v. Kelly Broadcasting Co. (1989), Gazette, Inc. v. Harris (1985)
6 federal appellate · 2 district · 92 state decisions — followed in 18 states
Later decisions citing this case, by decade. The current decade is in progress, and our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so the latest bars are undercounted — not a real decline.
Relationships
Relies on In the Matter of Samuel Winship · New York Times Co. v. Sullivan · Gertz v. Robert Welch, Inc. · Griswold v. State of Connecticut · National Association for Advancement of Colored People v. Y Button
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 108 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“[A] private individual, who is neither a public figure nor official, may recover actual damages for a defamatory falsehood, concerning a subject of general or public interest, where the substance makes substantial dangers to reputation apparent, on a showing that in publishing the statement, the defendant knew or, in the exercise of reasonable care, should have known that the statement was false, or would create a false impression in some material respect.”
10 later decisions quote this exact passage“[J]uries shall be limited to awarding damages for only actual injuries sustained, and shall not be allowed to presume the existence of any damages in the absence of a finding that the statement was published with knowledge that it was false or with a reckless disregard for the truth.”
3 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the dissent“While holding that `so long as they do not impose liability without fault, the States may define for themselves the appropriate standard of liability,' the Gertz Court left little doubt of its assumption that most states would adopt a negligence standard. At one point, the Court stated: `Our inquiry would involve considerations somewhat different from those discussed above if a State purported to condition civil liability on a factual misstatement whose content did not warn a reasonably prudent editor or broadcaster of its defamatory potential . . . .' In prohibiting punitive damages, the Court stated that such `damages are wholly irrelevant to the state interest that justifies a negligence standard for private defamation actions.' Justice Blackman, concurring, flatly states that `the Court now conditions a libel action by a private person upon a showing of negligence. . . .,' and Chief Justice Burger characterizes the majority opinion as introducing to defamation law the concept of `negligence,' Justice Brennan refers to a reasonable care standard, and Justice White's dissent contains similar language.”
1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the concurrence
How this case has been treated — in progress
Whether each later court followed, distinguished, criticized, or overruled this decision. The treatment classification (task #35) runs highest-cited cases first and lights up here as it reaches this one.