Bennett v. Hickman’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

13 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 13 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “(I) If the plaintiff serves an offer of settlement in writing at any time more than fourteen days before the commencement of the trial that is rejected by the defendant, and the plaintiff recovers a final judgment in excess of the amount offered, then the plaintiff shall be awarded actual costs accruing after the offer of settlement to be paid by the defendant. (II) If the defendant serves an offer of settlement in writing at any time more than fourteen days before the commencement of the trial that is rejected by the plaintiff, and the plaintiff does not recover a final judgment in excess of the amount offered, then the defendant shall be awarded actual costs accruing after the offer of settlement to be paid by the plaintiff.”

   4 later decisions quote this exact passage
   e.g. Hall v. Frankel · Moye White LLP v. Beren

2. “The trial court has no discretion to deny an award of actual costs under this statute, so long as it determines that those costs are reasonable.”

   2 later decisions quote this exact passage
   e.g. Catlin v. Tormey Bewley Corp. · Moye White LLP v. Beren

3. “given in good faith and ... the work in support of the testimony has been professionally and diligently performed, the question of costs concerning that witness' work and testimony should not be governed by issues of credibility, but rather must be determined strictly on the reasonableness of the fees.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. Paratransit Risk Retention Group Insurance Co. v. Kamins