Roszel Cathcart Thomsen

How Judge Thomsen rules, drawn from 20 signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.

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

Court
United States District Court for the District of Maryland
Position
district
Status
Deceased
Served
1954–1992
Appointed by
Dwight D. Eisenhower (Republican)
Commissioned
1954-05-12
Education
Johns Hopkins University, B.A. (1919); University of Maryland School of Law, LL.B. (1922)
Signed orders read
20

How Judge Thomsen decides

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

What persuades

In McFarland, Thomsen treated the absence of record evidence showing knowing falsehood or reckless disregard as decisive at summary judgment.

“there is no basis in the record to support a finding of knowing falsehood or reckless disregard on the part of defendant”

In Baker, Thomsen applied the statutory filing deadline despite acknowledging that the result appeared unfair.

“That result in the instant case seems unfair”

In Osborne, Thomsen paired habeas relief with substitute civilian service equivalent to the petitioner's remaining active-duty obligation.

“conditioned that petitioner serve in the civilian work program administered by the Selective Service System or similar work approved by this Court”

Procedural preferences

In Frost, Thomsen endorsed liberal interrogatories for legitimate purposes but required counsel to exercise judgment and rejected oppressive questioning.

“Although this Court is committed to the liberal use of interrogatories for legitimate purposes, the Court expects counsel to use some judgment in preparing interrogatories.”

In Flinchum, Thomsen allowed a late claim where the initial filing period was short but protected timely claimants by subordinating the late claim.

“the shortness of the time allowed by the original order would make it unduly harsh to deny him and his insurer the right to join with the other claimants”

In Meadows, Thomsen permitted discovery aimed at facts usable on cross-examination to test a party's credibility.

“An interrogatory to a party designed to elicit facts which may be used in cross examination to affect credibility of that party is a proper subject of discovery.”

Signed rulings

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

Casey v. Roudebush
· 1975-06-20
Personnel record relief (plaintiff) Granted in part

“The court will enter a judgment order directing that, unless such a hearing as is described in 2, above, is held on or before September 30, 1975, the defendant Administrator of Veterans Affairs shall deliver to the Clerk of this Court the material listed in 2(i), (ii), (iii), (iv) and (v), above”

Relief against civil service commission (plaintiff) Denied

“Plaintiff is not entitled to any relief against the Civil Service Commission or its Director.”

Baker v. United States
· 1972-04-05
Motions to dismiss (United States) Granted

“under the statute and the authorities, I must dismiss the suits.”

Associated Press v. J. B. Broadcasting of Baltimore, Ltd.
· 1972-01-24
Default judgment relief (defendant) Denied

“Defendant’s motion to strike the judgment is hereby denied.”

Davis v. Miller
· 1972-03-13
Declaratory judgment (plaintiffs) Granted

“declaring that the contested property holding requirements violate the Fourteenth Amendment”

Permanent injunction (plaintiffs) Granted

“granting a permanent injunction against their enforcement.”

United States v. Maryland Shipbuilding & Drydock Co.
· 1970-10-28
Discovery objections (United States) Granted

“The Court will therefore sustain plaintiffs’ objections to the interrogatories listed above”

Sanders v. United States
· 1973-04-24
Sentence vacatur (federal prisoner) Denied

“The motion under § 2255 filed by Sanders is hereby denied.”

Lunquist v. SS Seatrain Maryland
· 1973-06-08
Seaman wage claim (Roy Lunquist) Granted

“Judgment will be entered for plaintiffs.”

Seaman wage claim (Arthur Wilson) Granted
Seaman wage claim (B. Z. Powell) Granted
Seaman wage claim (Peter A. Marozas) Granted
Osborne v. Seaman
· 1970-10-07
Habeas corpus (Army captain) Granted

“That the petition for writ of habeas corpus be and the same is hereby granted, conditioned that petitioner serve in the civilian work program”

Israelson v. United States
· 1973-12-07
Interest deduction claim (taxpayers) Granted

“The interest paid by Taxpayer on those mortgages was therefore deductible.”

Business entertainment deduction (taxpayers) Denied

“The claimed deduction must be disallowed.”

McFarland v. Hearst Corporation
· 1971-10-15
Summary judgment (defendant) Granted

“Defendant’s motion for summary judgment will, accordingly, be granted.”

Frost v. Williams
· 1969-03-27
Protective order (defendant) Granted

“His motion for a protective order is granted, without prejudice to plaintiff’s right to file a reasonable set of interrogatories.”

United States v. Vanguilder
· 1969-03-17
Evidence suppression motion (defendant) Denied

“Insofar as the motion to strike is based upon the alleged illegal stopping of the car and the alleged illegal arrest of the defendant, it is hereby denied.”

Caseload & timing

From public federal docket records for this judge.

No indexed assigned dockets were returned, so no sampled case mix is reported.

A historical record

Judge Thomsen 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.