John Joseph Hickey
How Judge Hickey rules, drawn from 36 signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
Judge Hickey no longer hears cases. This profile is preserved as a historical record of how they ruled.
How Judge Hickey decides
Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
What persuades
Competing insurers were held to the coverage language they wrote, without extending either carrier's liability beyond its undertaking.
“each company is bound by the language of its policy and its liability cannot be extended beyond its undertaking.”
Priority between secured creditors followed the Uniform Commercial Code's first-to-file rule regardless of actual knowledge of the earlier agreement.
“the omission of a reference to ‘knowledge’ in § 9-312 indicates to us that the presence or absence of knowledge of the Atlas Security Agreement is irrelevant.”
Procedural preferences
Repeatedly declines to consider trial-court objections and instruction challenges not raised in compliance with Rule 51, and will not review claims raised for the first time on appeal.
“The objections to, and offers of, instructions are not considered in depth because Rule 51, Fed.R.Civ.P. has not been complied with.”
A fact-sensitive Miller Act classification was affirmed when the district court's finding was not clearly erroneous.
“We cannot say such a finding is clearly erroneous; therefore, we affirm the trial court.”
Administrative action remained reviewable unless a statute precluded review or the action was committed by law to agency discretion.
“This court has the right to review under Section 10 of the Administrative Procedure Act, 5 U.S.C. § 701(a) (Supp. II 1966), formerly 5 U.S.C. § 1009, unless (1) statutes preclude judicial review, or (2) agency action is by law committed to agency discretion.”
Cautions
Enforces the exhaustion-of-state-remedies requirement, affirming denial of federal habeas relief where state appellate review remains available.
“Therefore, we cannot say the trial court was wrong in concluding all appellee's state remedies have not been exhausted.”
Sales-related overhead could not be included in the mining-cost portion of a depletion calculation without a logical connection to mining.
“Overhead amounts dealing with sales cannot be logically attributed to mining as the government points out.”
Signed rulings
A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.
“The judgment is reversed and the appellee Duennebeil is remanded to the custody of the warden in whose charge he was when released. The mandate shall issue forthwith.”
“Because this issue was not considered below, the judgment is set aside, and this cause is remanded for disposition in accordance with this opinion.”
A historical record
Judge Hickey 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.