Wilbur Franklin Booth
Judge Booth no longer hears cases. This profile is preserved as a historical record of how they ruled.
How Judge Booth decides
Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
What persuades
Booth treated a missing element in a patented combination as dispositive of noninfringement.
“where one of the elements of a patented combination is wanting in the accused device there is no infringement.”
He applied state substantive law in diversity cases after Erie, including state rules governing employer liability.
“Except in matters governed by the Federal Constitution or by acts of Congress, the law to be applied in any case is the law of the state.”
Procedural preferences
He required litigants to preserve evidentiary and instructional issues through proper trial objections rather than assignments of error alone.
“assignments of error cannot and are not intended to fill the place of the usual and proper steps taken in the course of a trial to call the attention of the trial court to alleged error”
He enforced the final-order requirement and dismissed attempts to appeal interlocutory rulings.
“With certain exceptions, not here material, we have no jurisdiction to entertain appeals from interlocutory orders.”
Cautions
He would not allow separate creditors to combine unrelated claims merely to reach the federal jurisdictional threshold.
“if several creditors of the company, each with a debt less than $3,000, had joined as plaintiffs, the demands could not have been aggregated in order to confer jurisdiction.”
Signed rulings
A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.
“The appeal is accordingly dismissed.; but as the appellee has argued only the points presented by the assignments of error,, and has not moved to dismiss the appeal, no costs will be allowed.”
“The judgment of the court below is affirmed.”
“It follows that the judgment of dismissal was erroneous. The same is reversed and the cause remanded for further proceedings not inconsistent herewith.”
“We think the decree is correct, and should be affirmed.”
“We think that the orders appealed from should he affirmed.”
“The order and decree appealed from are affirmed.”
“We think that the defense of mutual mistake of fact has not been clearly established, and that the decree should be reversed and the cause remanded with directions to dismiss plaintiff’s bill.”
Caseload & timing
From public federal docket records for this judge.
Not applicable to this circuit-court record.
A historical record
Judge Booth 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.