Thomas Benton Smith
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.
Procedural preferences
He expects parties to litigate discovery in good faith and enforces the rules' cost consequences: a granted motion to compel triggers mandatory Rule 37 fee-shifting, but he will not reward a movant for self-inflicted expense, such as the travel cost of choosing out-of-area counsel.
“Defendant is entitled to and the Court 'must' award Defendant its reasonable expenses, including attorneys' fees incurred in prosecuting its motion to compel. However, Defendant's decision to employ an attorney who resides in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida does not justify an award of travel costs”
On a motion for default judgment he does not rubber-stamp the clerk's default: he independently tests whether the well-pleaded allegations make out each element of the claim before recommending judgment.
“a default is not treated as an absolute confession of the defendant of his liability and of the plaintiff's right to recover. ... The Court has considered the well-pled allegations and the record evidence in this case and finds that Plaintiff's averments support the entry of a default judgment”
He applies Iqbal plausibility strictly to vague, multi-party 'shotgun' pleadings: a claim that lumps all defendants together as interfering with all plaintiffs is insufficient and must be repleaded to specify which defendant did what to whom.
“A general allegation that some unidentified Defendants or all Defendants interfered with some unidentified customers of some unnamed Plaintiff does not satisfy the requirements of Ashcroft v. Iqbal”
In electronic discovery he manages search terms actively rather than ordering every demanded term run, reviewing disputes against proportionality and the Sedona Conference framework.
“The Court will SUSTAIN in part and OVERRULE in part Defendants' objections to the Special Master's Report and Recommendation.”
Signed rulings
A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.
“the motion to compel is due to be granted in part and denied in part”
“the motion to drop Kathleen Tarzia is due to be granted after she is deposed”
“The Court will SUSTAIN in part and OVERRULE in part Defendants' objections to the Special Master's Report and Recommendation.”
“Upon due consideration, I respectfully recommend that the motion be granted.”
“Upon due consideration, I respectfully recommend that the motions to dismiss be granted.”
Caseload & timing
From public federal docket records for this judge.
The reviewed matters from 2010 through 2018 provide illustrative caseload context rather than weighted counts or a complete census. No authoritative caseload baseline was available.
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.