Who appointed Paul Gerhart Hatfield?

President Jimmy Carter appointed Paul Gerhart Hatfield to the U.S. District Court for the District of Montana in 1979.

Was Paul Gerhart Hatfield appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?

Paul Gerhart Hatfield was appointed by President Jimmy Carter, a Democrat. JudicialFinder records the appointing president's party, not a judge's own politics.

What was Paul Gerhart Hatfield's confirmation vote?

Paul Gerhart Hatfield was confirmed by voice vote on May 9, 1979. No senator-by-senator tally was recorded.

District of Montana / Appointed 1979 / Served to 2000

Paul Gerhart Hatfield

Judge, U.S. District Court for the District of Montana

Appointed by President Jimmy Carter in 1979 and confirmed by voice vote, Paul Gerhart Hatfield was a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the District of Montana. He earned a law degree from University of Montana School of Law in 1955. Rulings & record ↓ Sources ↓

Lived: 1928–2000
Appointed by: Jimmy Carter, 1979
Confirmed: by voice vote
Education: University of Montana Law 1955
Succeeded: Russell Evans Smith
Succeeded by: Donald W. Molloy

Federal judicial service

Year	Court	Appointed by	Vote
1979	District of Montana succeeded Russell Evans Smith	Carter (D)	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

University of Montana School of Law

LL.B.

1955

Judicial Record

Caseload & case types

In our data, Hatfield was assigned 1,184 district-court cases (1980–2000). Median time from filing to termination: 342 days across 1,184 closed cases.

Personal-injury torts23%

Contract18%

Prisoner & habeas12%

Civil rights11%

Social Security10%

Real property8%

Other19%

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.

In our data, Hatfield authored 150 published opinions for the court (1979–2000). Most cited: Shook v. State Farm Mut. Ins. of Bloomington, Ill. (32 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A selective record from published opinions in the CourtListener corpus, not every ruling; most unpublished district orders are not included.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
1994	Shook v. State Farm Mut. Ins. of Bloomington, Ill.	872 F. Supp. 768	32
1982	Harmon v. Phillips Petroleum Co.	555 F. Supp. 447	30
1981	Trust Corp. of Mont. v. Piper Aircraft Corp.	506 F. Supp. 1093	28
1995	Grindheim v. Safeco Insurance Co. of America	908 F. Supp. 794	26
1995	Casualty Indemnity Exchange Insurance v. Liberty National Fire Insurance	902 F. Supp. 1235	24
1989	Hager v. American West Insurance	732 F. Supp. 1072	23
1980	Johnson v. United States	496 F. Supp. 597	23
1991	Montana Pole & Treating Plant v. IF Laucks and Co.	775 F. Supp. 1339	22
1985	First Bank Billings v. Feterl Mfg. Co. (In Re Parker Montana Co.)	47 B.R. 419	20
1980	Wagar v. Hasenkrug	486 F. Supp. 47	19
1985	Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers v. Burlington Northern Railroad	620 F. Supp. 163	16
1998	Gollehon Farming v. United States	17 F. Supp. 2d 1145	15
1990	Black v. Goodman	736 F. Supp. 1042	15
1983	Assiniboine & Sioux Tribes v. State of Mont.	568 F. Supp. 269	15
1983	Great Plains Crop Management, Inc. v. Tryco Manufacturing Co.	554 F. Supp. 1025	15

Showing the 15 most-cited of 150 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 Paul Gerhart Hatfield?: President Jimmy Carter appointed Paul Gerhart Hatfield to the U.S. District Court for the District of Montana in 1979.
Was Paul Gerhart Hatfield appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?: Paul Gerhart Hatfield was appointed by President Jimmy Carter, a Democrat. JudicialFinder records the appointing president's party, not a judge's own politics.
What was Paul Gerhart Hatfield's confirmation vote?: Paul Gerhart Hatfield was confirmed by voice vote on May 9, 1979. No senator-by-senator tally was recorded.
Which court was Paul Gerhart Hatfield on?: Paul Gerhart Hatfield was a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the District of Montana.

Sources

Each fact on this page traces to a primary public record.

How we source & reconcile data → Data & Sources

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21 years on the U.S. District Court for the District of Montana. Data as of 2026-08-10. Informational only; verify against the primary source before relying. Not a consumer report (FCRA).