James Dale Todd
How Judge Todd rules, drawn from 25 signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
Judge Todd no longer sits on this court. This profile is preserved as a historical record of how they ruled here.
About Judge Todd
James Dale Todd served as a judge of the United States District Court for the Western District of Tennessee after receiving his commission in July 1985. He was the court’s chief judge from 2001 to 2007 and assumed senior status in May 2008. He became inactive in September 2021.
How Judge Todd decides
Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
What persuades
Todd measured the jurisdictional amount at the time the federal action began, preventing later exchange-rate changes from defeating jurisdiction.
“The general rule of the Sixth Circuit requires a determination of the amount in controversy at the time the action is commenced in district court.”
Procedural preferences
Todd treated document requests served domestically as domestic discovery even when the requested materials were located abroad.
“requests for production of documents served on a party in this country are held to occur in this country even though the documents may be located in a foreign state.”
Cautions
Todd found that litigating a dispositive motion in state court before removal waived the defendant’s right to remove.
“Having lost that motion, defendant may not now ‘appeal’ the state court’s decision to this court by removal.”
Signed rulings
A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.
“the motion for summary judgment of Defendants City of Selmer and Michael Gilbert is GRANTED”
“the Secretary’s motion to dismiss for lack of subject matter jurisdiction is GRANTED.”
“Defendant Smith’s motion for summary judgment is GRANTED”
“Defendant’s motion to dismiss for lack of subject matter jurisdiction is DENIED.”
“the defendants’ motion for summary judgment is GRANTED.”
“Defendants’ motions for summary judgment as to Plaintiffs Fourth Amendment claim pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983 are hereby GRANTED.”
“Defendant Hardin County’s motion for summary judgment on all claims is GRANTED.”
“Plaintiffs motion for summary judgment is DENIED”
“Defendant’s motion for summary judg *937 ment is GRANTED.”
“The United States’ motion for summary judgment is GRANTED.”
“Plaintiffs appeal of the Clerk’s award of costs is DENIED.”
“Grin-nell’s motion for summary judgment is hereby GRANTED”
“The Union’s motion for summary judgment is DENIED.”
Caseload & timing
From public federal docket records for this judge.
The eight sampled terminated matters consisted mainly of prisoner civil-rights cases, plus one employment civil-rights case and one habeas matter. This targeted oldest-case sample is not a complete caseload measure.
Pending matters in the official report
Judge Todd was last listed in the Civil Justice Reform Act report as of September 30, 2021.
| Motions pending more than six months | 56 |
| Bench trials submitted more than six months | 0 |
| Bankruptcy appeals pending more than six months | 0 |
| Social Security appeals pending more than six months | 0 |
| Civil cases pending more than three years | 10 |
| Report | Motions over six months | Cases over three years |
|---|---|---|
| Sep 2021 | 56 | 10 |
| Mar 2021 | 41 | 7 |
| Sep 2020 | 11 | 6 |
A snapshot on that date: matters listed may since have been decided or reassigned. A motion referred to a magistrate judge is counted for both judges. Motions in multidistrict litigation, section 2255 cases and Social Security appeals are not counted, and a very large three-year count is generally a multidistrict docket. Source: Appendix A of the report (PDF); about the report.
A historical record
Judge Todd no longer sits on this court. This profile stays available as a record of how they ruled here. If you're preparing for a matter, start from the court's current bench.