Bennett Champ Clark
Judge Clark no longer hears cases. This profile is preserved as a historical record of how they ruled.
How Judge Clark decides
Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
What persuades
Clark kept the burden of proof on the prosecution even where the defendant had not affirmatively established official status.
“The burden was on the Government and remained on the Government”
He sent a malpractice claim to a jury when the record contained evidence from which proximate cause could be found.
“we cannot say, as counsel for defendant insists, that there was a total lack of evidence of proximate cause.”
Procedural preferences
Clark looked past an inexpert pleading's form and allowed amendment where that was necessary to reach the substance of a habeas claim.
“The petition may be amended in the interest of justice, and power to allow or require amendment lies with the lower court, particularly where, as here, the petition is incomplete by reason of petitioner’s own inexpert draftsmanship.”
He treated accrued support obligations as fixed unless relief was obtained prospectively through a proper application.
“It is well settled in this jurisdiction that the trial court is without power to effect a revision or remittance of past due alimony.”
Cautions
Clark would not allow a contractual termination clause to erase a termination already accomplished by the party's own breach.
“the right to terminate, embodied in the contract, was extinguished by prior termination through breach.”
He treated a former employer's responsive reference as qualifiedly privileged when the communication answered a prospective employer's inquiry.
“It is clear that appellees’ letter of November 18, 1942, written in response to an inquiry by a prospective employer of appellant was clothed with a qualified privilege recognizable as a matter of law.”
Signed rulings
A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.
“For the foregoing reasons, the judgment of the lower court in Case No. 8995 should be affirmed.”
“The judgment is therefore reversed and the case remanded with instructions to grant a new trial.”
Caseload & timing
From public federal docket records for this judge.
Not applicable to this circuit-court record.
A historical record
Judge Clark 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.