Watts v. Newberg’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

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

1. “[T]hat he understood that the insurance offered as a substitute for workers’ compensation coverage was promoted as being just as good as workers’ compensation coverage, although, in reality, the new policy did not provide for any benefits for partial disability. This being the case, claimant contended that he would not have knowingly waived his right to recover for permanent partial disability in lieu of a policy providing only for benefits for total disability. In addition, he argued that the employer did not set forth the differences between workers’ compensation coverage and the proposed disability coverage so as to allow him to gain a substantial understanding of the consequences of signing the rejection.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Blackstone Mining Co. v. Travelers Insurance Co.

2. “[T]he employer gave [the] claimant and fellow employees ... the choice of remaining on the employer’s workers’ compensation coverage with a 20 percent reduction in wages or rejecting the provisions of the Workers’ Compensation Act and accepting a new employer-provided benefit package with no decrease in wages. The meeting with the employees resulted in the wholesale signing of rejection notices by the employees.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Blackstone Mining Co. v. Travelers Insurance Co.

3. “It is not dispositive, in our view, to decide that the signature was freely given; the statute requires that rejection of the act be voluntary. Like the Court of Appeals, we believe that among the elements of a voluntary rejection, as contemplated by the legislature, is a substantial understanding of the nature of the action and its consequences.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Blackstone Mining Co. v. Travelers Insurance Co.