William Brevard Hand
Judge Hand no longer hears cases. This profile is preserved as a historical record of how they ruled.
How Judge Hand decides
Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
What persuades
He treated removal requirements as procedural commands that must be satisfied before state jurisdiction ends.
“All requirements of the federal statute must be fulfilled to effect removal. Until such time, the state court retains jurisdiction over the case and may proceed.”
He treated an employer's role in maintaining a benefit plan as central to ERISA governance.
“The Court finds that AmSouth took action to maintain the SLTD, therefore the plan is governed by ERISA for this reason also.”
He enforced clear insurance language as written.
“The insurance policy must be interpreted and enforced as written when the language of the policy is clear and unambiguous.”
Procedural preferences
He viewed removal as protection against forum prejudice, not as a tactical delay device.
“Removal is a means of allowing out-of-state defendants to avoid being prejudiced by litigating in the plaintiff’s forum.”
He combined mail-service and time-computation rules when deciding whether objections were timely.
“Having been filed on Thursday, January 22, 1987, the defendants’ objections to the recommendation were timely and will be considered by the Court.”
He left unresolved state-law immunity questions to the state court after ordering remand.
“The ALDOT defendants’ motion to dismiss is appropriately left to the state court.”
Cautions
A False Claims Act complaint needed allegations connecting the alleged fraud to a claim against federal funds.
“a complaint under the False Claims Act must contain allegations showing the relationship between the United States Treasury and the defendants sufficient to establish that claims were actually made against the United States Government.”
The ERISA provisions he applied did not allow extra-contractual or punitive damages for improper benefits processing.
“this ‘equitable’ relief does not include either damages for such things as inconvenience, worry and emotional distress or punitive damages.”
He treated a clear policy's windstorm deductible as controlling over a broader construction.
“Shoreline’s contention that the deductible should be applied to the loss caused by both covered and excluded causes of loss is contrary to plain language of the insurance contract”
Signed rulings
A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.
“It is, therefore, ORDERED that the case be REMANDED to the Circuit Court of Baldwin County, Alabama.”
“Creditors’ motion to dismiss debtor’s appeal as moot is GRANTED.”
“Accordingly, it is hereby ORDERED that this case be, and it is, DISMISSED, for lack of subject matter jurisdiction.”
“it is hereby ORDERED, pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1447(c), that this case be REMANDED to the Circuit Court for Mobile County, Alabama.”
“It is therefore ORDERED that this case was removed improvidently and without jurisdiction, and it is to be REMANDED to the Circuit Court of Baldwin County, Alabama, forthwith, pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1447(c).”
“it is hereby ORDERED, ADJUDGED and DECREED that Counts One through Five of plaintiff’s complaint be DISMISSED.”
“It is further ORDERED, ADJUDGED and DECREED that judgment as a matter of law be entered in favor of defendants as to Counts Six and Seven of plaintiff’s complaint.”
“It is therefore ORDERED that the motion for reconsideration is hereby DENIED.”
“Having been filed on Thursday, January 22, 1987, the defendants’ objections to the recommendation were timely and will be considered by the Court.”
“it is ORDERED that the motion to dismiss the cause of action against defendant John H. Smith for failure to state a claim be GRANTED, but that the plaintiffs have twenty (20) days to amend the complaint in compliance with the conditions laid down by this Order.”
“defendant’s motion to strike plaintiffs claims for damages other than the benefits due under the employee benefit plan at issue in this litigation is due to be and is hereby GRANTED.”
“The Court therefore ORDERS that the motion to remand be, and it hereby is DENIED.”
“the motions filed by FSLIC and the Breland defendants to set aside the default judgment entered in this action on February 12, 1987 by the Circuit Court of Mobile County, Alabama, be and are hereby GRANTED, pursuant to Rule 60(b)(4) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, to the extent the default judgment, attached as Appendix I, declares and enters a lien against ‘the property ... on which the business at 6700 Airport Boulevard is conducted’”
“the motion be and is hereby GRANTED and that, to the extent this action seeks a judgment against FSLIC/Receiver or seeks relief which would adversely affect FSLIC/Receiver’s interest in the property located at 6700 Airport Boulevard on which FSLIC/Receiver has a mortgage, the action is DISMISSED, without prejudice, for lack of subject matter jurisdiction.”
“It is, therefore, ORDERED that this cause be and is hereby REMANDED to the Circuit Court of Mobile County, Alabama.”
Caseload & timing
From public federal docket records for this judge.
Median case duration in the sampled dockets: 1110.5 days (N = 20).
The 20 located assigned cases were all later terminated and included habeas, prisoner civil-rights, real-property, contract, foreclosure, product-liability, and Social Security matters. This archival slice does not establish the distribution of Hand's full caseload.
A historical record
Judge Hand no longer hears cases. This profile stays available as a record of how they ruled. If you're preparing for a matter, start from the court's current bench.