Claude Feemster Clayton
How Judge Clayton rules, drawn from 6 signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
Judge Clayton no longer hears cases. This profile is preserved as a historical record of how they ruled.
How Judge Clayton decides
Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
What persuades
He evaluated a juvenile's waiver of counsel and silence rights under the totality of circumstances rather than treating age alone as dispositive.
“no court, so far as we have been able to learn, has utilized age alone as the controlling factor and ignored the totality of circumstances in determining whether or not a juvenile has intelligently waived his rights against self-incrimination and to counsel.”
Procedural preferences
He approved dismissal with prejudice only after a clear, extreme record of delay and failure to comply with pretrial orders.
“Approximately fourteen years after suit was filed, with no action taken for about seven years, plaintiff can not be heard to complain that his case has now been dismissed with prejudice.”
Cautions
He enforced preservation rules where the trial judge gave counsel an opportunity to object to jury instructions and no objection was made.
“No party may assign as error any portion of the charge or omission therefrom unless he objects thereto before the jury retires to consider its verdict, stating distinctly the matter to which he objects and the grounds of his objections”
Signed rulings
A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.
“The action of the district court in entering judgment declaring that Aetna was under no contractual duty to pay the Schafer judgment was right, and it should be, and is, Affirmed.”
A historical record
Judge Clayton 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.