Commonwealth v. Phillips’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

2 federal appellate · 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 18 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “Foreseeability is not an element used to determine whether negligent conduct was the proximate or legal cause of an accident but it is an element considered when determining the existence of negligent conduct. Brown v. Tinneny, 280 Pa.Superior Ct. 512, 421 A.2d 839 (1980). Negligent conduct, that is, an absence of ordinary care which a reasonable person would exercise under particular circumstances, results where a wrongdoer could have anticipated or foreseen the likelihood of harm to a person injured as a result of the wrongdoer’s act. Zilka v. Sanctis Construction, Inc., 409 Pa. 396 , 186 A.2d 897 (1962). To determine whether the wrongdoer proximately or legally caused the injury giving rise to the negligence action, there must be a finding that the wrongdoer’s allegedly wrongful conduct was a substantial factor in bringing about the accident, even though it need not be the only factor. Majors v. Broadhead Hotel, 416 Pa. 265 , 205 A.2d 873 (1965). The fact that conduct might not reasonably be foreseen to result in a particular harm or cause harm in a particular manner that in fact occurred does not preclude liability. Fredericks v. Castora, 241 Pa.Superior Ct. 211, 360 A.2d 696 (1976).”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. 158 Pa. Commw. 230 - Agresta v. Gillespie

2. “irrelevant because of its too general applicability.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. Weil ex rel. Estate of Weil v. Seltzer