Kavanagh v. Zwilling’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

2 district · 2 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 9 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “would have to determine the truth of the defendants' statements ... and, in doing so, would examine and weigh competing views of church doctrine, the result is entanglement in a matter of ecclesiastical concern that is barred by the First Amendment.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Lippard v. Holleman

2. “(1) a written defamatory factual statement [of and] concerning the plaintiff; (2) publication to a third party; (3) fault; (4) falsity of the defamatory statement; and (5) special damages or per se actionability.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Greene v. Paramount Pictures Corp.

3. “purely secular dispute between third parties and a particular defendant, albeit a religiously affiliated organization,”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Lippard v. Holleman