Lander v. Smith’s Empirical Analysis
2005
Citation profile
16 state decisions
Relationships
Relies on 760 So. 2d 126 - Volusia County v. Aberdeen at Ormond Beach · 617 So. 2d 305 - DEPT. OF HEALTH & REHAB. SERVICES v. Privette · Eldridge v. Eldridge · Jones v. Stoutenburgh · G.F.C. v. S.G.
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 16 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“This case rests at the intersection of paternity and legitimacy where there exists a natural tension between reason and emotion, law and social consciousness, and the presumption of legitimacy and the best interests of a child in a modern world characterized by family structures of endless varieties and mores in constant flux. We are mindful of the presumption of legitimacy and the importance that it serves for children who would otherwise face uncertainty in their family lives. [The child] is not one of these children. For [the child], it cannot be said that strictly applying the presumption of legitimacy is irrefutably in his best interests where it is uncontested that [the petitioner] is his biological father and where [the petitioner] is willing to assume that role in [the child’s] life. This is especially so in light of the lack of evidence that [the husband] has played any paternal role in [the child’s] life. For [the child] it is likely that strict adherence to the presumption of legitimacy could operate to thrust upon him the very uncertainty that it is intended to avoid.”
1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority“[W]hile a biological father who is a stranger to an existing marriage into which a child is born has extremely limited rights, his ability to establish his paternity is not left entirely to the husband’s “whim.” ... [A] biological father may seek to establish his paternity, even when both the mother and husband object, if “common sense and reason are outraged” by applying the marital presumption to bar such an action.”
1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority““there must be a clear and compelling reason based primarily on the child’s best interests to overcome the presump tion of legitimacy even after the legal father is proven not to be the biological father ... [t]hus, if a test shows that [a man other than the child’s legal father] is the child’s biological father, this fact without more does not constitute grounds to grant a paternity petition.””
1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
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.