Thomas v. Thomas’s Empirical Analysis
1999
Citation profile
25 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 25 later decisions — most recently February 2020 · most notably Carlton v. Carlton (2000), Erhart v. Evans (2001)
25 state decisions
Later decisions citing this case, by decade. The current decade is in progress, and our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so the latest bars are undercounted — not a real decline.
Relationships
Relies on Vaughn v. State · 41 Wash. App. 495 - Byerly v. Madsen · Reavis v. Reavis · Basolo v. Basolo · Stadtfeld v. Stadtfeld
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 25 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“Judicial discretion is a composite of many things, among which are conclusions drawn from objective criteria; it means a sound judgment exercised with regard to what is right under the cireumstances and without doing so arbitrarily or capriciously.”
10 later decisions quote this exact passagee.g. Carlton v. Carlton · Moss v. Moss“[T]he duty of a natural father to support his child begins at [his child's] birth. The establishment of paternity by judicial decree is merely a procedural prerequisite to enforcement of the duty of support owed to the child: it does not create, but only defines the preexisting duty. .... From our review of relevant statutory provisions, we conclude that a district court possesses the authority to issue support orders retroactive to the date of a child's birth in paternity/support actions initiated by a state for the reimbursement of public assistance. The guiding principles in each instance are to promote the welfare of the child and to serve the ends of justice. We are persuaded that neither principle is generally served by failing to acknowledge a father's duty to support his child from the date of birth. Consequently, retroactive child support orders should be the rule, rather than the exception. The burden is accordingly placed upon the father to demonstrate to the district court why a retroactive child support order should not issue in a particular case.”
1 later decision quote this exact passage“"A void judgment is not entitled to the respect accorded to, and is attended by none of the consequences of, a valid adjudication. Indeed, a void judgment need not be recognized by anyone, but may be entirely disregarded or declared inoperative by any tribunal in which effect is sought to be given to it. It has no legal or binding force or efficacy for any purpose...." 46 Am.Jur.2d Judgments § 831 (1994).”
1 later decision quote this exact passage
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.