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 hears cases. This profile is preserved as a historical record of how they ruled.
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.
A historical record
Judge Todd 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.