David McKendree Key
How Judge Key rules, drawn from 9 signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
Judge Key no longer hears cases. This profile is preserved as a historical record of how they ruled.
How Judge Key decides
Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
What persuades
Key treated detailed allegations of insider control, fraud, and asset dissipation as sufficient grounds for equitable intervention before the defendant answered.
“The bill is full of averments, specific in their character, of violations of trust obligations, waste, and dissipation of assets”
Procedural preferences
Key read the federal poor-person statute to preserve appellate access when the litigants personally supplied the required affidavits.
“the appeal will be granted, upon the timely filing of the affidavits, or execution of the usual bond for costs.”
Cautions
Key applied laches where land claimants waited more than five years after their asserted discovery and decades after the recorded transactions.
“It seems clear that complainants have been guilty of such laches that they cannot recover”
Signed rulings
A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.
“this branch of the motion comes too late.”
“the appeal will be granted, upon the timely filing of the affidavits, or execution of the usual bond for costs.”
“It is ordered that the hill be dismissed, at complainant’s cost.”
Key ordered a short evidentiary period on which filing occurred first before deciding whether to remand the removed insurance action.
“The demurrers and motions to dismiss will be sustained, and the bill dismissed.”
“his application for a writ of habeas corpus is dismissed.”
“a receiver should be appointed for the purposes and with the powers prayed for”
“It is further ordered that an injunction issue as prayed for”
“the cause will be remanded, with directions that the verdict and judgment be set aside, and a new trial awarded, and it is so ordered.”
Caseload & timing
From public federal docket records for this judge.
The reviewed decisions predate representative electronic case-level dockets. The profile therefore makes no claim about complete caseload mix, case duration, administrative dispositions, or motion timing.
A historical record
Judge Key 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.