James Dale Todd
Appointed by President Ronald Reagan in 1985 and confirmed by voice vote, James Dale Todd is a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Tennessee. He earned a law degree from Memphis State University (now University of Memphis) Cecil C. Humphreys School of Law in 1972. Rulings & record ↓ Sources ↓
- Born
- 1943 · age 83
- Appointed by
- Ronald Reagan, 1985
- Confirmed
- by voice vote
- Education
- Lambuth College 1965 · Memphis State (now University of Memphis) Cecil C. Humphreys Law 1972
- Succeeded by
- Stanley Thomas Anderson
Federal judicial service
| Year | Court | Appointed by | Vote |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1985 | Western District of Tennessee | Reagan (R) | Voice vote |
Party letters show the appointing president’s party, not the judge’s own. A voice vote means the chamber approved aloud. No senator-by-senator tally is recorded.
Confirmation vote
Voice vote
The Senate approved this confirmation aloud, with no senator-by-senator tally recorded. Recorded roll-call votes begin in 1989.
Education
| Lambuth College | B.S. | 1965 |
| University of Mississippi | M.C.S. | 1968 |
| Memphis State University (now University of Memphis) Cecil C. Humphreys School of Law | J.D. | 1972 |
Judicial Record
Caseload & case types
In our data, Todd was assigned 6,333 district-court cases (1966–2021). Median time from filing to termination: 241 days across 6,330 closed cases.
Case assignment is from CourtListener’s PACER-derived docket records: a partial sample, not a complete caseload, reflecting the judge last assigned each case. How we count.
On appeal
Of 193 of Todd’s decisions reviewed on the merits by the U.S. courts of appeals in our data, 168 were affirmed, 18 reversed or vacated, and 7 affirmed in part and reversed in part. This is a historical count of appellate outcomes for cases we could match, not a judgment of the judge, and not a complete record. How we count.
In our data, Todd authored 47 published opinions for the court (1985–2008). Most cited: Fowler v. Metropolitan Life Insurance (36 citations).
A selective record from published opinions in the CourtListener corpus, not every ruling; most unpublished district orders are not included. Counts and rankings are objective and recomputable: how we count. We describe the record, not the judge.
Recent & notable rulings
| Year | Case | Citation | Cited |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1996 | Fowler v. Metropolitan Life Insurance | 938 F. Supp. 476 | 36 |
| 1986 | Bolivar Sand Co., Inc. v. Allied Equipment, Inc. | 631 F. Supp. 171 | 32 |
| 1987 | Gaines v. Perkins (In Re Perkins) | 71 B.R. 294 | 24 |
| 1985 | Adams v. Republic Steel Corp. | 621 F. Supp. 370 | 24 |
| 2004 | Tuggles v. Leroy-Somer, Inc. | 328 F. Supp. 2d 840 | 15 |
| 1989 | Transouth Financial Corp. v. Hill | 106 B.R. 145 | 14 |
| 1994 | Stem v. Gannett Satellite Information Network, Inc. | 866 F. Supp. 355 | 13 |
| 1986 | Apex Oil Co. v. Tims (In Re Armstrong) | 56 B.R. 781 | 13 |
| 1986 | Rahman v. Stephenson | 626 F. Supp. 886 | 12 |
| 1996 | Scarborough v. Brown Group, Inc. | 935 F. Supp. 954 | 11 |
| 1985 | Mujihadeen v. Compton | 627 F. Supp. 356 | 11 |
| 1985 | Manning v. Fort Deposit Bank | 619 F. Supp. 1327 | 10 |
| 1996 | Burnett v. Tyco Corp. | 932 F. Supp. 1039 | 9 |
| 1993 | McKinnie v. Lundell Manufacturing Co. | 825 F. Supp. 834 | 9 |
| 1993 | Barclays/American Business Credit, Inc. v. Adams | 171 B.R. 298 | 9 |
Showing the 15 most-cited of 47 authored opinions in our data. “Cited” is inbound citations across the CourtListener corpus. Case links open the ruling’s full text (CourtListener) or its page here; read the methodology and verify against the primary source.
Questions & answers
- Who appointed James Dale Todd?
- President Ronald Reagan appointed James Dale Todd to the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Tennessee in 1985.
- Was James Dale Todd appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?
- James Dale Todd was appointed by President Ronald Reagan, a Republican. JudicialFinder records the appointing president's party, not a judge's own politics.
- What was James Dale Todd's confirmation vote?
- James Dale Todd was confirmed by voice vote on July 10, 1985. No senator-by-senator tally was recorded.
- Which court is James Dale Todd on?
- James Dale Todd is a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Tennessee.
Sources
Each fact on this page traces to a primary public record.
- FJC Biographical Directory
- Wikidata
- Portrait: United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit (Public domain), via Wikimedia Commons
- CourtListener bulk data (Free Law Project): authored opinions & citation counts
How we source & reconcile data → Data & Sources
See something wrong? Report an error. Fixes are logged in the corrections log.
41 years on the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Tennessee. Data as of 2026-08-10. Informational only; verify against the primary source before relying. Not a consumer report (FCRA).