Walter Lyndon Pope

U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit circuit Retired 1969 · served 1949–1969 Appointed by Harry S. Truman (Democratic) 25 signed orders read

Judge Pope no longer hears cases. This profile is preserved as a historical record of how they ruled.

How Judge Pope decides

Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.

What persuades

Pope required evidence of an original agreement to conceal before treating later concealment as part of a tax-evasion conspiracy.

“Upon the authority of this decision of the Supreme Court we hold that it was error to permit this case to go to the jury.”

Procedural preferences

Pope resisted pleading-stage dismissal when the parties' negotiations and agreement required evidentiary development.

“the trial court should not have granted a dismissal on the record before it.”

Pope treated disputed negligence evidence as a jury question and emphasized the federal standard governing removal of a case from the jury.

“In considering a case of this kind, we should take note of the precedents established by the Supreme Court as to when it is proper to take a case from the jury.”

Cautions

Pope treated timely filing in the Tax Court as a jurisdictional prerequisite and deferred to supported credibility findings.

“Timely filing is jurisdictional.”

Signed rulings

A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.

Jones v. United States
11851 · 1949-06-20
Appeal (appellant) Granted

“The judgment is reversed and the cause remanded for a new trial.”

Commander Door, Inc. v. Dunsmuir Lumber Co.
13074 · 1952-05-21
Appeal (appellant) Denied

“the judgment is affirmed.”

Himes v. Chadwick
13100 · 1952-09-24
Appeal (appellant) Denied

“The judgment is affirmed.”

Richfield Oil Corp. v. United States
13385 · 1953-10-21
Appeal (appellant) Denied

“the judgment is affirmed.”

George Tony Starkovich v. United States
14751 · 1956-03-08
Appeal (appellant) Granted

“The judgment is reversed.”

Juan Suarez-Seja v. Herman R. Landon, District Director of Immigration and Naturalization, Department of Justice, District No. 16
14604_1 · 1956-09-18
Appeal (appellant) Denied

“The judgment is affirmed.”

Floyd Smith v. Kenneth Buck and Kenneth Binder
15323 · 1957-06-07
Appeal (appellant) Granted

“The judgment is reversed and the cause remanded for further proceedings in the district court.”

Richfield Oil Corporation, a Corporation v. United States
15296_1 · 1957-08-21
Appeal (appellant) Granted

“The judgment of the district court is reversed and the cause remanded for further proceedings not inconsistent with this opinion.”

William R. Forman v. United States
15324_1 · 1958-10-27
Appeal (appellant) Granted

“The judgment is reversed and the cause remanded with directions to enter judgment for the appellant.”

Randolph Dale Pearce v. United States
15969_1 · 1958-12-19
Appeal (appellant) Denied

“The judgment is affirmed.”

Wayne Johnson v. United States
16371_1 · 1959-06-24
Appeal (appellant) Denied

“The order is affirmed.”

David Allen Parr v. United States
16319 · 1959-10-29
Appeal (appellant) Granted

“The judgment is reversed with directions to dismiss the indictment.”

Caseload & timing

From public federal docket records for this judge.

Not applicable to this circuit-court record.

A historical record

Judge Pope 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.