Alfred Delavan Thomas
Judge Thomas no longer hears cases. This profile is preserved as a historical record of how they ruled.
How Judge Thomas decides
Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
What persuades
Thomas treated a federal land withdrawal as dispositive where the executive officer had legal authority and no pre-emption right ever attached.
“That the land in question was reserved and withdrawn from the operation of the pre-emption and homestead laws by the secretary of the interior, and that he had legal authority to make such withdrawal, and that no right of complainant ever attached to said land by virtue of his pretended pre-emption claim.”
He read the tax-title statute to require the land to remain vacant and unoccupied throughout the full payment period.
“The statute on which the second cause of action in the complaints is based, in my opinion, means that the payment of taxes under color of title must be made on vacant and unoccupied lands for the full term named in the statute, and that the entry into possession by the defendant under claim and color of title stopped the running of the statute.”
Procedural preferences
Thomas required added pleading detail when adjacent mining operations made the location and extent of an alleged subsurface trespass material to preparing a defense.
“It is a wholesome and proper rule, to be applied in all cases where it is reasonably apparent, from the face of the pleading, and the facts and circumstances called to the attention of the court, that a more specific statement is required to enable the defendant or opposite party to fully understand and comprehend the alleged claim, and be prepared to answer and defend.”
He enforced the removal deadline strictly because the governing act narrowed federal removal rights.
“The act of March 3,1887,has definitely fixed the time within which a case may be removed. The act is restrictive in its nature”
He distinguished a reversal for legal error from the separate statutory right to one new trial after a valid judgment.
“The statute, read in the light of the history of the ancient rules embodied therein, would seem to contemplate that, when the title to real property is involved, the parties litigant shall be entitled to have it twice fairly and correctly tided before the title is finally and irrevocably adjudicated.”
Cautions
A litigant could lose a federal-forum option by affirmatively seeking relief from the state court before requesting transfer.
“He elected to remain in the state court, and lost the right of transfer, by actively invoking the jurisdiction of the state court”
Thomas viewed a rushed verdict as an additional concern where difficult factual issues and exhibits required meaningful deliberation.
“and compare the evidence, and arrive at a safe conclusion; yet the jury rendered a verdict in both cases in less than half an hour.”
Signed rulings
A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.
“It follows that both of these cases must be remanded to the state court; and it is accordingly so ordered.”
“The case must be remanded, and it is accordingly so ordered.”
“That part of the motion designated as the first ground is therefore denied.”
“It is therefore ordered that plaintiffs amend their complaint within 10 days from this date, or within such further time as may be allowed, so as to definit ely specify — First, the point or points a,t whioh the defendant invaded the plaintiffs’ territory; second, the extent to which defendant ran its drifts after it invaded the plaintiffs’ domain.”
“It follows that defendant’s motion must he granted, and it is so ordered.”
“After careful review of the cases and the record submitted, I think substantial justice demands that a new trial be had in both cases; and it is so ordered.”
The final decree dismissed the complainant's bill after Thomas concluded that “no right of complainant ever attached to said land by virtue of his pretended pre-emption claim.”
Caseload & timing
From public federal docket records for this judge.
The six located decisions do not establish the distribution of Thomas's full federal caseload.
A historical record
Judge Thomas 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.