Kuhn v. State’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

19 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 20 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “[A] litigant or lawyer who recovers a common fund for the benefit of persons other than himself or his client is entitled to a reasonable attorney's fee from the fund as a whole.... The [common fund] doctrine rests on the perception that persons who obtain the benefit of a lawsuit without contributing to its cost are unjustly enriched at the successful litigant's expense. Jurisdiction over the fund involved in the litigation allows a court to prevent this inequity by assessing attorney's fees against the entire fund, thus spreading fees proportionately among those benefited by the suit.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Brody v. Hellman

2. “The common fund doctrine applies when a plaintiff, either as an individual or a class representative, creates, increases, or preserves a monetary fund for the benefit of an ascertainable class of persons similarly situated.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Hawes v. Colorado Division of Insurance

3. “the remaining class members should pay what the court determines to be the reasonable value of the services benefitting them.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Brody v. Hellman