U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal CircuitcircuitRetired 2001 · served 1982–2001Appointed by Jimmy Carter (Democratic) 25 signed orders read
Judge Smith no longer hears cases. This profile is preserved as a historical record of how they ruled.
How Judge Smith decides
Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
What persuades
He evaluated an alleged workplace threat through the meaning a reasonable listener would give the words, not through the words in isolation.
“This court has held that the board must use “the connotation which a reasonable person would give to the words”2 in order to determine if the words constituted a threat.”
For equitable estoppel, he required detrimental reliance rather than reliance alone.
“It is not enough to assert that they filed amended applications in reliance on the Government's action; they must also show that this left them in a worse position than they would have been otherwise.”
From public federal docket records for this judge.
Not applicable to this circuit-court record.
A historical record
Judge Smith 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.