William David Hutchinson
Judge Hutchinson no longer hears cases. This profile is preserved as a historical record of how they ruled.
How Judge Hutchinson decides
Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
What persuades
Requires administrative findings to be internally consistent before they can support judicial review.
“Because the findings of fact on which the Administrative Law Judge (“ALJ”) based its decision are logically inconsistent and contradictory, we will vacate the district court’s order affirming the Secretary’s decision and remand for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.”
Applies the presumption available to a black-lung claimant when the agency has not adequately rebutted entitlement.
“Because the Director did not rebut Orav-itz’s presumed entitlement to benefits, we will reverse the order of the Benefits Review Board.”
Procedural preferences
Treats dismissal as a last-resort sanction and reviews the trial court's balancing of the governing factors.
“Mindful of the fact that dismissal is a sanction of last resort, Poulis, 747 F.2d at 868, we will review the district court’s balancing of the Poulis factors for abuse of discretion.”
Requires reasons and findings when a sentencing court departs from the guideline range.
“We will affirm Schein’s conviction but vacate the sentence of probation because the district court did not give its reasons for departing downward.”
Cautions
Enforces Rule 15's preference for allowing amendments when justice requires them, including in habeas proceedings.
“Accordingly, we hold that the district court’s order denying Riley leave to amend his petition for a writ of habeas corpus is inconsistent with the exercise of sound discretion in light of Rule 15(a)’s command that amendments should be freely allowed when justice so requires.”
Rejects sanctions under a court's inherent power unless the required bad faith is established.
“Because we have previously held bad faith is required before sanctions can be imposed under a court’s inherent power, we will reverse the district court’s $25,000.00 sanction against Liotta.”
Signed rulings
A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.
“We will therefore affirm the order of the district court.”
“We will affirm the district court’s order dismissing Kelly’s petition for a writ of habeas corpus.”
“We will affirm the judgment of the district court.”
“Because the Director did not rebut Orav-itz’s presumed entitlement to benefits, we will reverse the order of the Benefits Review Board.”
“Therefore, we will affirm the judgment of the appellate division directing the territorial court to dismiss Mapp's action.”
“Accordingly, we will remand to the Board and instruct it further to remand the case to the AU with directions that he reexamine the evidence and set forth on the record a discussion of all the evidence along with the reasons for his decision in a manner consistent with this opinion.”
“Because M & E was not in existence during the relevant period, we will affirm the district court's order granting summary judgment for M & E and awarding a refund for the taxes Gunnip paid on M & E's behalf for 1979-81, and statutory interest.”
“For the foregoing reasons, we will affirm the sentence of the district court.”
“Therefore, we will vacate the district court's judgment and remand this case to the district court to resolve the ambiguity in accordance with the intent of the parties.”
“We will therefore affirm the order of the district court granting summary judgment in favor of Allison and MPB pursuant to the government contractor defense that the Supreme Court announced in Boyle.”
“For these reasons, we will affirm the district court’s dismissal of the case.”
“Having determined that neither the issues raised in the Anders brief nor any other issue suggested to us by our independent review of the record is non-frivolous, we will affirm Tannis’s conviction and sentence.”
A historical record
Judge Hutchinson 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.