John Augustine Marshall
Judge Marshall no longer hears cases. This profile is preserved as a historical record of how they ruled.
How Judge Marshall decides
Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
What persuades
He protected trademark goodwill against names likely to mislead ordinary purchasers.
“the plaintiff’s good will is not so restricted, and must be protected in its broader field.”
He treated electricity generation as a beneficial use within the historical water-right grant.
“That the generation of electricity is a beneficial use for which an appropriation of water may be made has long been settled.”
He followed appellate reasoning on federal jurisdiction even where later review had turned on the remedy used rather than the underlying jurisdictional analysis.
“The decision of the Supreme Court left untouched the opinion of the Circuit Court of Appeals on the main question.”
Procedural preferences
He required a party invoking limited federal jurisdiction to plead the facts necessary to establish it.
“The court is of limited jurisdiction, and the plaintiff who invokes that jurisdiction must affirmatively state the facts necessary to its exercise.”
He allowed amendment after sustaining a jurisdictional demurrer.
“The demurrer will be sustained, with leave to the plaintiff to file an amended bill within 10 days.”
He declined to substitute his own site impressions for specialized mining evidence where the physical indications were ambiguous.
“it would be a great presumption on my part to attach material weight to impressions gained by my own inspection.”
Cautions
He resolved doubt over confusingly similar marks against the party that knowingly selected an approximation.
“Any doubt as to this should be resolved against the defendant, for it had a wide range of selection, and, knowing the existence of the plaintiff’s trade-mark, approximated it.”
He limited recovery to rights supported by the specific federal grant under which the claimant elected to proceed.
“having elected Jo stand on the grant of section 9 and the amendment thereto including reservoirs, it cannot claim any additional right under this subsequent legislation.”
Signed rulings
A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.
“The demurrer will be sustained, with leave to the plaintiff to file an amended bill within 10 days.”
“The petitioners will be given leave to file claims before the referee for the several sums received by the bankrupt on sales of their respective goods.”
“In either event the judgment must be for the defendant.”
“It follows that the demurrer must be sustained, and the indictment dismissed.”
“It follows that the action of the referee must be affirmed and the petitions for review dismissed; and it is so ordered.”
“The' motion will be sustained as to ‘conduits,’ ‘reservoir,’ and ‘steel pressure pipe’ in paragraph 3 of the bill; and also with respect to those parts of paragraph 4 specified in the motion as (a), (b), (f), (k), (1), (m), and (n) in relation to that paragraph, and will be otherwise denied”
“The plaintiff is entitled to the usual decree for an injunction and an accounting; and it will'be so ordered.”
Caseload & timing
From public federal docket records for this judge.
The seven located decisions concern bankruptcy, mining, criminal jurisdiction, water and power rights, and trademark infringement. They do not establish the distribution of Marshall's full caseload.
A historical record
Judge Marshall 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.