Quick facts
Court U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit
Position circuit
Status Retired 1980
Served 1974–1980
Appointed by Richard M. Nixon (Republican)
Commissioned 1974-05-14
Education State University of Iowa (University of Iowa), A.B., 1943; University of Iowa College of Law, J.D., 1948
Signed orders read 26
Last updated 2026-07-15
Motion outcomes
AppealN = 25
counts only
10 2 12 1
Petition for enforcementN = 1
counts only
1
Counted from classified signed orders. A “1 of 1” is one ruling, not a tendency.
About this data
A free Ezel research resource. This profile is built from public records: the judge's own signed orders, public docket records, and published biographies. It is not legal advice and is not affiliated with the court.
How Judge Tone decides
Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
Tone treated summary judgment as improper when the record left genuine factual questions that had to be tried rather than resolved on paper.
“issues of fact must be resolved by trial and not by affidavits.”
He declined to apply rigid per se rules, weighing the full context of the conduct in labor-interrogation cases.
“We join with other circuits, however, in declining to approve a per se rule and instead will look to the totality of the circumstances, including the purpose of the interview, the entire statement made to the employee, and the scope of the questioning.”
Signed rulings
A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.
Local 81, American Federation of Technical Engineers, AFL-CIO v. Western Electric Co.
508 F.2d 106 (7th Cir. 1974) · 1974-12-18
Appeal (employer/appellant)
Granted in part
“Affirmed in part; vacated and remanded in part.”
United States v. McConahy
505 F.2d 770 (7th Cir. 1975) · 1975-01-16
Appeal (criminal defendant/appellant)
Granted
“Reversed.”
Wadsworth v. United States Postal Service
511 F.2d 64 (7th Cir. 1975) · 1975-02-19
Appeal (insured and subrogee insurer/appellants)
Granted
“Reversed and remanded.”
United States v. Bell
505 F.2d 539 (7th Cir. 1975) · 1975-03-03
Appeal (criminal defendant/appellant)
Denied
“Affirmed.”
Satoskar v. Indiana Real Estate Commission
517 F.2d 696 (7th Cir. 1975) · 1975-07-14
Appeal (prevailing civil-rights plaintiff/appellant)
Denied
“Affirmed.”
Mowrer v. Ashland Oil & Refining Co.
518 F.2d 659 (7th Cir. 1975) · 1975-07-03
Appeal (oil company/appellant)
Denied
“Affirmed.”
Sperry v. Barggren
523 F.2d 708 (7th Cir. 1975) · 1975-09-17
Appeal (securities plaintiffs/appellants)
Granted
“Reversed and remanded.”
Johnson v. Holley
528 F.2d 116 (7th Cir. 1975) · 1975-10-31
Appeal (habeas petitioner/appellant)
Granted in part
“Affirmed in part; vacated and remanded in part.”
Hennings v. Grafton
523 F.2d 861 (7th Cir. 1975) · 1975-11-11
Appeal (voters/plaintiffs-appellants)
Denied
“Affirmed.”
United States v. Merritts
527 F.2d 713 (7th Cir. 1975) · 1975-12-17
Appeal (government/appellant)
Granted
“The order appealed from is reversed insofar as it suppresses evidence that Merritts attempted to solicit a bribe from Kammermeyer on October 10, 1974.”
Bond v. Stanton
528 F.2d 688 (7th Cir. 1976) · 1976-01-07
Appeal (state welfare officials/appellants)
Denied
“Affirmed.”
Lagorio v. Board of Trade of Chicago
529 F.2d 1290 (7th Cir. 1976) · 1976-02-13
Appeal (commodities trader/appellant)
Denied
“The summary judgment in their favor is therefore affirmed.”
Caseload & timing
From public federal docket records for this judge.
Circuit judges do not carry a single assigned trial caseload.
A historical record
Judge Tone 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.