Shook v. Beals’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

16 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. “The issues to be determined are these: First, was the plaintiff negligent; Second, were any of the defendants negligent; Third, was the negligence of any of the defendants imputed to the other defendants by reason of their being joint venturers.... If you find none of them were negligent then neither the plaintiff or the cross-complainant ... may recover. If you find that although one or more of them was negligent, the accident was not the proximate result of such negligence then again none of them may recover ... If you find that the plaintiff was free from negligence, or if negligent that his negligence did not contribute in any degree as a proximate cause of the injury and if you find that the defendants were negligent or that one of them was negligent and his negligence was imputed to the others and that this negligence was a proximate cause of the accident then the plaintiff is entitled to recover from the defendants, or such of them as were negligent, either in fact or by reason of the doctrine of imputed negligence ...”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. Shook v. Beals

2. “Where the trial proceeds in all respects as though the complaint sufficiently states a cause of action, and the defendant goes to trial upon the theory that there is a material issue, and allows evidence to be received upon such issue without objection in any way, and the court makes a finding upon such evidence, upon the theory that the proper issue is made by the pleadings, with no objection from either party, the parties will not, nor will either of them, be allowed on appeal to say, for the first time, there was no such issue. This is especially true where there is not a total absence of allegations essential to a statement of a cause of action.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. Shook v. Beals

3. ““The general rule is that where a general instruction is given which is correct as far as it goes, being deficient merely by reason of its generality, the injured party may complain on appeal only in case he requests that the charge be made more specific or asks for other qualified instructions, and his request is denied. (Peckham v. Warner Bros. Pictures, 42 Cal.App.2d 187, 189 [ 108 P.2d 699 ] ; Eubanks v. Milton G. Cooper & Son, Inc., 68 Cal.App.2d 366 [ 156 P.2d 775 ]; 24 Cal.Jur. 796, § 74.)””

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. 171 Cal. App. 2d 206 - Ballard v. Augustine