Section 11-735

Citation: Section 11-735
Parent Document: Mendes v. Johnson, 389 A.2d 781 (1978)
Jurisdiction: DC (municipal)
Effective Date: 1978-06-13
Original Source: https://www.courtlistener.com/opinion/2073911/mendes-v-johnson/ ↗

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Of particular import in some courts' analysis of this factor is the status of the plaintiff as an individual or "institutional" litigant. See, e. g., Simpson v. Union Oil Co., 411 F.2d 897 (9th Cir. 1969). If the plaintiff is an individual person, or a small business entity, who, as a "one-time litigant," will receive no other future benefit from a change in the law if the new rule adopted is not applied to the parties at bar, courts are more inclined to overrule retroactively as to the parties to the overruling case in order to reward the litigant for efforts expended in promoting the progress of the law. However, if the plaintiff is instead an "institutional litigant," such as an insurance company or a public utility regularly defending damage claims, a manufacturer regularly defending products liability claims, or a major corporation regularly defending antitrust claims, the litigant need not be rewarded for such advocacy since such a party will continue to reap the benefits of a new rule of law in succeeding cases. Id. at 903-04. See also 71 Yale L.J. at 945 n. 192.

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