Harry Sandlin Mattice Jr.

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

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

Court
United States District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee
Position
district
Status
Retired 2021
Served
2005–2021
Appointed by
George W. Bush (Republican)
Commissioned
2005-11-18
Education
University of Tennessee, B.S. (1976); University of Tennessee College of Law, J.D. (1981)
Signed orders read
20

How Judge Mattice decides

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

What persuades

In Boles, Mattice denied a damages-limitation theory at summary judgment because the employer had not eliminated a factual dispute over whether the later-discovered misconduct would actually have caused termination.

“on the record before the Court on this motion, Polyloom has not carried its burden of establishing that there is no genuine issue of material fact as to whether it would, in fact, have terminated Mr. Boles had it known of his prior conviction.”

Procedural preferences

In Person, Mattice required defendants seeking dismissal of newly added claims to address those claims in new motions.

“they must file new motions discussing those causes of action.”

Cautions

In Wilkerson, Mattice declined to compel criminal defendants to disclose in advance whether they would rely on advice of counsel.

“The Court finds no good cause to compel the Defendants to disclose whether or not they intend to rely on an advice of counsel defense.”

Signed rulings

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

Person v. Progressive Logistics Services LLC
· 2006-03-03
Motions to dismiss (Kroger Limited Partnership I) Denied

“Defendant KLPI’s motion to dismiss will be DENIED.”

Judgment on the pleadings (Progressive Logistics Services LLC) Granted in part

“Defendant PLS’s motion for judgment on the pleadings will be GRANTED IN PART and DENIED IN PART.”

Boles v. Polyloom Corp. of America
· 2006-03-06
Summary judgment (defendant Polyloom Corporation of America) Granted in part

“Poly-loom’s Motion for Summary Judgment will be GRANTED IN PART and DENIED IN PART.”

White v. MPW Industrial Services, Inc.
· 2006-03-21
Motion for conditional certification (plaintiffs) Granted

“Plaintiffs’ motion for conditional certification of a collective action and for court approved notice to proposed class members will be GRANTED.”

Motions to strike (defendant) Denied

“Defendant’s motion to strike will be DENIED.”

McKee Foods Kingman v. Kellogg Co.
· 2006-12-29

Mattice denied several dismissal grounds but reserved the personal-jurisdiction issue, leaving the motion partly unresolved.

Equal Employment Opportunity Commission v. Texas Hydraulics, Inc.
· 2008-04-16
Summary judgment (defendant) Denied

“Defendant’s Motion for Summary Judgment [Court Doc. 35] is DENIED.”

Higgins v. Internal Revenue Service
· 2009-01-16
Bankruptcy appeal (debtors-appellants) Denied

“For the reasons stated below, the Court concludes that the bankruptcy court did not err and its rulings will be AFFIRMED.”

Goggin Warehousing, LLC v. Morin
· 2009-07-09
Summary judgment (plaintiffs) Granted

“Plaintiffs Motion for Summary Judgment [Court Doc. 20] is GRANTED and Plaintiff is entitled to recover from Defendants in the amount of $73,811.46.”

Summary judgment (defendants) Denied

“Defendants’ Motion for Summary Judgment [Court Doc. 7] is DENIED.”

Messick v. Ascend Federal Credit Union
· 2010-01-29
Bankruptcy appeal (debtors-appellants) Denied

“For the reasons stated below, the Court concludes that the bankruptcy court did not err and its ruling will be AFFIRMED.”

Manuli Stretch USA, Inc. v. Pinnacle Films, Inc.
· 2010-08-12
Summary judgment (defendant Pinnacle Films, Inc.) Denied

“Defendant Pinnacle Films, Inc.’s Motion for Summary Judgment on Invalidity (Court Doc. 212) is DENIED;”

Summary judgment (plaintiff Manuli Stretch USA, Inc.) Denied

“Plaintiff Manuli Stretch USA, Inc.’s Motion for Summary Judgment on Inequitable Conduct is DENIED (Court Doc. 219);”

Summary judgment (counterclaim defendants) Granted

“Counterclaim Defendants Quintec Films, Corporation’s, Terry Jones’, and Charles M. Leonard’s Motion for Summary Judgment Regarding Pinnacle’s Counterclaim for Attorney’s Fees is GRANTED (Court Doc. 209).”

Encore Medical, L.P. v. Kennedy
· 2012-03-21
Motions to transfer (defendants) Granted

“To the extent the Motions request that the Court transfer the action to the Western District of Pennsylvania pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1404(a), they will be GRANTED.”

United States ex rel. Martin v. Life Care Centers of America, Inc.
· 2012-11-15
Motion to consolidate (United States) Granted

“The Government’s Motion to Consolidate (Doc. 44; Taylor, Doc. 4) is hereby GRANTED.”

Motion to intervene (Chattanooga Publishing Company) Granted

“Chattanooga Publishing Company’s limited Motion to Intervene (Doc. 56; Taylor, Doc. 11) is hereby GRANTED.”

Motion to seal (United States) Denied

“The Government’s request to retain certain documents under seal (Docs. 58, 64; Taylor, Docs. 13, 17) is hereby DENIED WITHOUT PREJUDICE.”

Moates v. Hamilton County
· 2013-09-04
Summary judgment (defendants) Granted in part

“The Court hereby GRANTS IN PART and DENIES IN PART Defendants’ Motion for Summary Judgment (Doc. 24).”

Caseload & timing

From public federal docket records for this judge.

The five sampled terminated cases were filed in January 2006 and included land tort, insurance, negotiable-instrument, ERISA, and interstate-commerce matters.

A historical record

Judge Mattice 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.