Cook v. Rezek’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

6 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 6 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “[Delay in initial payment] will not defeat specific performance under SDCL 21-9-5 unless it is material. What constitutes materiality was well analyzed in Vol. 5A, Corbin on Contracts, § 1175, p. 304. There it is stated: But where the plaintiff has promised a performance that constitutes part or all of the exchange for the defendant’s return performance, that which he has failed to perform may be material and “of the essence” even though the parties did not expressly or impliedly make it a condition of the defendant’s duty. Its essential importance, its materiality, is determined with reference to the purposes for which the contract was made, the proportion that it bears to the rest of the contract, the extent of injury that its nonperformance causes to the defendant, and the practices and feelings of the community in like cases. Using this test we hold that the breach was not material and will not defeat a decree of specific performance. The delay was only of a 17-day duration, the amount involved was only $500 of a $112,200 contract, and the record does not reveal that the defendant was in any way injured by the late payment. What the record does reveal is that the defendant, for personal reasons, realized that he really did not want to sell his land and was using the plaintiffs delay as an excuse for repudiating the contract.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. Talley v. Talley