Samuel James Ervin III
How Judge Ervin rules, drawn from 25 signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
Judge Ervin no longer hears cases. This profile is preserved as a historical record of how they ruled here.
About Judge Ervin
Samuel James Ervin, III was a judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. Appointed by President Jimmy Carter, Judge Ervin received a commission on May 23, 1980. Judge Ervin served until death on September 18, 1999.
How Judge Ervin decides
Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
What persuades
In Chaudhry’s suit, he concluded that the complaint failed to state a claim even when its factual allegations were accepted as true.
“Even accepting all of the factual allegations in the complaint as true, Chaudhry still failed to state a claim.”
In Gillins v. Berkeley Electric Cooperative, he affirmed summary judgment against a race-discrimination claim because inconsistent application of the employer's transfer rationale did not show that race caused the employee's temporary demotion.
“creating a suspicion that BEC’s reasons for its actions are not credible is not enough to survive summary judgment.”
Procedural preferences
In Centennial Life Insurance v. Poston, he found that efficiency and judicial economy supported the district court’s decision concerning parallel state litigation.
“Concern for efficiency and judicial economy clearly support the district court’s decision.”
In United States v. Harriott, he admonished the district court to apply the Guidelines as written after finding sentencing errors and remanded the case.
“we must admonish district courts instead to apply the Guidelines as written.”
Cautions
In BMC’s appeal, Ervin held that the company had transferred away its right to assert a claim to the funds and dismissed the appeal for lack of jurisdiction.
“Because BMC lacks the requisite stake in the outcome to participate in this appeal, see Nationwide Mut. Fire Ins. Co. v. Eason, 736 F.2d 130, 134 (4th Cir.1984), we dismiss the action for lack of jurisdiction.”
In the Department of Health and Human Services labor dispute, he rejected the method used to interpret the collective bargaining agreement because it gave insufficient weight to the agreement’s actual meaning.
“this skewed method of interpretation simply does not accord sufficient respect to the actual meaning of the collective bargaining agreement.”
Signed rulings
A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.
“Affirmed in part and reversed and remanded in part by published opinion.”
A historical record
Judge Ervin no longer hears cases. This profile stays available as a record of how they ruled here. If you're preparing for a matter, start from the court's current bench.