There was a guy in New York when my father was a young lawyer there, by the name of Rebbe Klein. My dad learned that any lawsuit he was in -- and there were hundreds -- could not be used as precedent. He had evidently managed to piss off the judges so much with his endless frivolous lawsuits that they would find law to go against him, or make it if they had to, just to be able to throw his cases out of court so hard they bounced twice and hit him in the nose. So anything they said in an opinion against him didn't necessarily apply in any case involving anyone else... it was just a way to kick Rebbe Klein out the door again.