98 So. 2d 899 - Smith v. Delery’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

5 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 5 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “"The record convinces us that the boy had done nothing more than attempt to prevent his dog from joining in the barking and that, in perfect good faith, he had done all that he could to retrieve it from somewhere near the rear of the residence. "However, liability vel non of Delery does not depend upon whether young Smith looked through the window but rather upon the question of whether or not Delery, under all the circumstances, acted as a man of reasonable prudence would have acted. We think that he did. "It is impossible to express our regret that the young man seems to have been the innocent victim of a chain of circumstances for which he was not to blame. "When we compare the facts of this case with those found in Patterson v. Kuntz, supra, ( 28 So.2d 282 ) it seems that, except for the fact that young Patterson was to some extent himself to blame, there is no distinction between the facts here and the facts there. There the previous occurrences, together with the presence of the young man and his approach towards the Kuntz residence, were held sufficient to justify the action of Kuntz in firing the shots. In that case we found that the intruder failed `to heed (the) warning (to stop),' but continued on in the direction of the bedroom window. Here, though young Smith did not continue in the open towards the window, nevertheless he continued towards a hiding place immediately alongside the house and put himself in a position in which, had he been an intruder with feloniou”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. 116 So. 2d 833 - Pearson v. Taylor

2. “"At 4:15 o'clock on the morning of October 12, 1953, Wayne R. Smith, a fourteen year old newspaper delivery boy, was shot and very seriously and permanently injured by Edward J. Delery at whose residence young Smith, a short time before, had delivered a morning newspaper and whose defense to this damage suit is based on the contention that, because of repeated appearances of prowlers in the neighborhood and because he thought that young Smith, who had gone to the rear of his premises to retrieve his dog, was a prowler and that the safety of himself and the members of his family might be endangered, he was justified in discharging the pistol which unfortunately struck the boy."”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. 116 So. 2d 833 - Pearson v. Taylor

3. “"Since extreme fear of great danger must exist if such a defendant is to escape liability, it would follow that if Delery did not fire until the boy had turned and was actually going away from the residence, the imminent danger no longer existed and there would be liability in Delery."”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. 159 So. 2d 700 - McKellar v. Mason