Thomas Anderton Wiseman Jr.

How Judge Wiseman rules, drawn from 14 signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.

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

Court
United States District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee
Position
district
Status
Deceased
Served
1978–2020
Appointed by
Jimmy Carter (Democratic)
Commissioned
1978-08-11
Education
Vanderbilt University, B.A. (1952); Vanderbilt University Law School, J.D. (1954); University of Virginia School of Law, LL.M. (1990)
Signed orders read
14

How Judge Wiseman decides

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

What persuades

Wiseman treated an involuntary dismissal without prejudice as insufficient to confer prevailing-party status for a contractual fee request.

“a defendant in a case that is involuntarily dismissed without prejudice is not a prevailing party for purposes of Rule 54(d).”

Procedural preferences

Wiseman favored preserving relevant allegations and addressing possible prejudice through trial instructions instead of striking the pleading.

“The Court can, if necessary, provide a limiting instruction to the Jury to prevent any undue prejudice to Defendants.”

Cautions

Wiseman preserved issues for a developed factual record when dismissal-stage briefing did not justify resolving them.

“In all other respects, Liberty Mutual’s Motion to Dismiss will be denied without prejudice to the defendant’s ability to seek summary judgment once the facts of this case have been fully developed.”

Signed rulings

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

Minnis ex rel. Doe v. Sumner County Board of Education
· 2011-03-29
Summary judgment (Sumner County Board of Education) Granted

“Defendants’ motions for summary judgment will be granted”

Summary judgment (Donna Weidenbenner) Granted
Affinion Benefits Group, LLC v. Econ-O-Check Corp.
· 2011-03-22
Summary judgment (Econ-O-Check Corp.) Granted in part

“EOC’s motion for summary judgment will be granted in part and denied in part.”

Summary judgment (Affinion Benefits Group, LLC) Denied

“Affinion’s motion for summary judgment will be denied in its entirety.”

Trice v. McEachen
· 2011-02-16
Summary judgment (defendants) Granted

“The motion will therefore be granted and the plaintiffs complaint dismissed.”

Equal Employment Opportunity Commission v. Southeast Telecom, Inc.
· 2011-01-31
Summary judgment (defendant) Denied

“SET’s motion for summary judgment will therefore be denied.”

Shelton v. Rutherford County, Tennessee
· 2011-01-18
Summary judgment (plaintiffs) Denied

“Plaintiffs’ Motion for Partial Summary Judgment (Doc. No. 94) will be denied”

Summary judgment (defendants) Granted

“Defendants’ Motion for Summary Judgment (Doc. No. 95) will be granted”

Weaver v. Prudential Insurance Co. of America
· 2010-12-07
Motions to remand (plaintiff) Denied

“Plaintiff’s motion to remand will be denied”

Judgment on the pleadings (Prudential Insurance Co. of America) Granted

“Prudential’s motion for judgment will be granted”

Motions to dismiss (Hendersonville Medical Center) Granted in part

“the Hospital’s motion will be granted in part and denied in part.”

Sagan v. Sumner County Board of Education
· 2010-07-06
Motions to dismiss (Sumner County Board of Education) Granted in part

“the motions to dismiss will be granted in part and denied in part; the motion to strike will be denied.”

Motions to dismiss (Donna Weidenbenner) Granted in part
Motions to strike (Sumner County Board of Education) Denied
Venezia v. 12th & Division Properties, LLC
· 2010-02-09
Motions to dismiss (defendants) Granted

“Defendants’ motion to dismiss will be granted in its entirety”

Hamlin v. Trans-Dapt of California, Inc.
· 2008-11-03
Summary judgment (defendant) Granted in part

“the defendant’s motion will be granted in part and denied in part.”

Layman Lessons, Inc. v. City of Millersville, Tennessee
· 2008-03-07
Summary judgment (plaintiff) Granted in part

“each motion must be granted in part and denied in part”

Summary judgment (defendant) Granted in part
Turner v. Liberty National Life Insurance
· 2007-05-16
Motions to dismiss (defendant) Granted in part

“will grant in part and deny in part the defendant’s motion to dismiss”

Lee v. Dell Products, L.P.
· 2006-04-21
Motions to dismiss (defendant) Denied

“Defendants’ motion to dismiss the claims of Tresa Sanders and Genola Sanders as barred by the applicable statute of limitations will be denied.”

Caseload & timing

From public federal docket records for this judge.

The four closed sampled dockets include education and civil-rights disputes, land-use litigation, and a religious-land-use case. This small purposeful sample does not describe the judge’s full caseload.

A historical record

Judge Wiseman 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.