John Ethridge McCall

How Judge McCall rules, drawn from 16 signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.

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

Court
United States District Court for the Western District of Tennessee
Position
district
Status
Deceased
Served
1905–1920
Appointed by
Theodore Roosevelt (Republican)
Commissioned
1905-01-17
Education
University of Tennessee, A.B. (1881); Read law (1882)
Signed orders read
16

How Judge McCall decides

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

What persuades

McCall treated price-information cooperation as unlawful when the practical result was suppression of competition and coordinated price increases.

“Competition without co-operation means destructive competition. Co-operation without competition means the destruction of competition — price fixing.”

Procedural preferences

McCall separated subject-matter jurisdiction from venue and enforced the statutory district limitation when a defendant timely objected.

“the question raised seems to be one of venue rather than federal jurisdiction.”

Cautions

McCall required criminal liability to be established through admissible evidence and ordinary legal safeguards, regardless of the defendant's size or prominence.

“before any citizen, however great or small, or any corporation, however rich or powerful, can be legally convicted and punished for crime, that crime must be established, under and according to the rules of evidence and the forms of law.”

Signed rulings

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

In re Pearlman
· 1915-04-02
Naturalization petition (petitioner) Denied

“The result is that the application for naturalization must be denied, without prejudice.”

Tate v. Baugh
· 1918-07-06
Plea to jurisdiction (defendant) Denied

“An order will be entered, disallowing the plea to the jurisdiction of this court.”

United States v. Friedman
· 1915-06-01
Demurrer (defendant) Granted

“The result is I think the sixth and seventh grounds of the demurrer are good, and an order will be entered quashing the indictment.”

United States v. Johnson
· 1915-12-11
Motion for new trial (defendant) Denied

“It results from what has been said that the motion for a new trial will be overruled.”

In re Evans
· 1918-09-27
Petition to review referee order (bankrupt) Denied

“An order will be entered, confirming the action of the referee, with costs”

In re Davies
· 1919-03-04
Petition to review referee order (trustee) Denied

“An order will be entered, affirming the order of the referee, with costs”

United States v. Wilson
· 1915-05-31
Motion for new trial (defendant) Granted

“The result is that the motion for a new trial will be allowed; and it is so ordered.”

In re Warnock
· 1917-03-02
Motion to vacate stay (creditor) Granted

“A decree will be entered, vacating the stay order issued in this case”

Application for injunction (bankrupt) Denied

“denying the application for an injunction”

Sherard v. Walton
· 1913-07-15
Permanent injunction (plaintiffs) Granted

“the relief prayed for by the plaintiffs should be granted, and a decree will be entered, enjoining the defendants, according to the prayer of the bill.”

Laughter & Fisher v. McLain
· 1916-01-22
Temporary injunction (plaintiffs) Denied

“An order will be entered vacating the stay order heretofore made and denying the temporary injunction prayed for.”

Wright v. Yazoo & M. V. R.
· 1912-02-21
Motion for new trial (defendant) Denied

“Motion for new trial denied.”

City of Memphis v. Board of Directors
· 1916-01-15
Plea in abatement (defendant levee board) Granted

“the plea in abatement of the levee board, in so far as it is based upon the ground now under consideration, is held to be sufficient, and the court is without jurisdiction.”

Caseload & timing

From public federal docket records for this judge.

The reviewed decisions predate representative electronic case-level dockets. This profile therefore makes no claim about complete caseload mix, case duration, administrative dispositions, or motion timing.

A historical record

Judge McCall 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.