Utah-Idaho Sugar Company v. Ritter, 71-1686.
| Decision Date | 11 July 1972 |
| Docket Number | No. 71-1686.,71-1686. |
| Citation | 461 F.2d 1100 |
| Parties | UTAH-IDAHO SUGAR COMPANY, a Utah corporation, Petitioner, v. The Honorable Willis W. RITTER, Chief Judge of the United States District Court For the District of Utah, Respondent. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Tenth Circuit |
William T. Thurman, and Wilford M. Burton, of McKay, Burton, McMurray & Thurman, Salt Lake City, Utah, and Francis R. Kirkham, William E. Mussman and Charles A. Storke, of Pillsbury, Madison & Sutro, San Francisco, Cal., for petitioner.
William J. Lockhart, Salt Lake City, Utah, for respondent.
Before SETH, HOLLOWAY, McWILLIAMS, BARRETT and DOYLE, Circuit Judges.
The petitioner seeks mandamus and prohibition against the Honorable Willis W. Ritter, Chief Judge for the United States District Court for the District of Utah in respect to the assignment of its case to himself. It had previously been assigned to Judge Sherman A. Christensen prior to Judge Christensen's taking senior status. The original assignment to Judge Christensen had been pursuant to an order of the Judicial Council of the Tenth Circuit assigning cases to the judges of the District of Utah, which system had been in operation since 1958. Judge Christensen's successor was qualified the very day that Judge Christensen took senior status.
The contention of petitioner is that inasmuch as Judge Christensen had expended substantial time and effort in preparing this cause for trial, it should continue with him. We hold, however, that although petitioner is entitled to the extraordinary relief requested, the cause must be assigned to Judge Anderson, and this is by reason of the Circuit Council's order entered in December 1971.
This controversy had its beginning prior to January 20, 1958. On that date, due to disagreement among the judges, the Tenth Circuit Council entered its order promulgating rules for the District Court for the District of Utah relative to the division of business and the assignment of cases. There was a specific finding that the judges of the District of Utah, Chief Judge Ritter and Judge Christensen, were unable to agree on assignments, necessitating intervention of the Judicial Council pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 137, which provides that if the district judges in any district are unable to agree on the adoption of rules or assignments of cases and division of business, the Judicial Council shall make the necessary orders. In substance, these imposed rules required an equal and random division of civil cases and prescribed a system which balanced and apportioned the criminal, bankruptcy, immigration and naturalization cases. The rules so promulgated were subject to modification by an order signed by both active judges, and a slight change was brought about through this procedure on May 3, 1962.1
The above order of the Judicial Council did not explicitly deal with the present situation, that is, the division of cases following one of the judges taking senior status. The occurrence which brought this matter to a head was Judge Christensen's taking senior status on August 17, 1971. On the same day Judge Aldon J. Anderson qualified as Judge Christensen's successor.
On October 4, 1971, Chief Judge Ritter unilaterally issued an order promulgating a new set of rules for the assignment of cases. In this order Chief Judge Ritter held that the previous order of the Tenth Circuit Council was no longer in force and effect and that it was therefore necessary to promulgate a new set of rules. Chief Judge Ritter's rules were not unlike those which had previously been promulgated by the Judicial Council, but he also undertook to assign the cases which had been previously assigned through the 1958 Council order to Judge Christensen. A number of these cases were assigned by Chief Judge Ritter to himself. Included was the present one, that is, No. C-11-71, Albertson's, Inc., et al. v. Amalgamated Sugar Company, et al. It is important to note that by agreement a few of these cases have subsequently been assigned back to Judge Christensen for completion and a large number have been assigned to Judge Anderson. However, the above mentioned case and one other have been and continue to be held by Chief Judge Ritter. Moreover, Chief Judge Ritter insists that he is now empowered to make assignments as he chooses.
By its order dated December 20, 1971, the Tenth Circuit Judicial Council, pursuant to 28 U.S.C. §§ 137 and 332, declared that its January 20, 1958 order was to be reaffirmed and continued in effect and directed that the cases which had been assigned to Judge Christensen were to be assigned to Judge Anderson. It was further directed that Chief Judge Ritter vacate his orders of October 4, 1971 and November 24, 1971, purporting to assign to himself cases which had been pending in the court of Judge Christensen. It was further ordered that Chief Judge Ritter vacate his several orders unilaterally entered with respect to cases assigned to Judge Anderson unless the latter agreed to the assignment.
The present mandamus action was filed on November 11, 1971, and thus some of the above mentioned orders were entered subsequent thereto. It is important to note that the Circuit Council, before acting on December 20, 1971, inquired as to whether there was agreement between the judges of the District of Utah, and Judge Anderson replied that the judges were not able to agree. It is also noteworthy that Judge Anderson did not subscribe to any of the orders promulgated by Chief Judge Ritter and did not participate in the calendar calls which were had pursuant to those orders.
Chief Judge Ritter's position here is that the Judicial Council's order 1) ceased to be effective when Judge Christensen took senior status, and in any event 2) did not cover this contingency and that therefore he, as Chief Judge, had the authority under 28 U.S.C. § 137 to reassign Judge Christensen's cases as he saw fit. This paragraph provides:
The chief judge of the district court shall be responsible for the observance of such rules and orders, and shall divide the business and assign the cases so far as such rules and orders do not otherwise prescribe. (Emphasis added.)
The above provision does give the chief judge...
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U.S. v. Pearson, No. 97-3268
...supervisory powers, a defendant may also, prior to trial, challenge the case assignment procedure itself. See Utah-Idaho Sugar Co. v. Ritter, 461 F.2d 1100, 1104 (10th Cir. 1972) (granting a petition for a writ of prohibition and mandamus barring a judge from assigning a case to himself and......
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...the appropriate remedy is a petition to the appropriate court of appeals for a writ of mandamus. See Utah-Idaho Sugar Co. v. Ritter, 461 F.2d 1100, 1104 (10th Cir. 1972) (per curiam); Kerr-McGee Corp. v. Ritter, 461 F.2d 1104, 1105 (10th Cir. 1972) (per curiam), or raising the question afte......
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McBryde, In re
...The Tenth Circuit has by mandamus voided assignment of a case to an improper district judge, as we would do here. Utah-Idaho Sugar Co. v. Ritter, 461 F.2d 1100 (10th Cir.1972); Kerr-McGee Corp. v. Ritter, 461 F.2d 1104 (10th Cir.1972). In Utah-Idaho and Kerr-McGee, a chief judge of a distri......
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Obert v. Republic Western Ins. Co.
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