Magistrate Judge Jerry Davis Retiring--Replacement Sought
Patsy Brumfield of the Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal reports on the retirement of Northern District U.S. Magistrate Judge Jerry Davis. The very popular Judge Davis is retiring after 37 years in the federal judiciary.
I'm pretty bummed out about Judge Davis retiring. He is the only judge I've ever had who completely struck a defendant's boilerplate objections. The result was astonishing. Turned out that the defendant did have all those documents that they previously denied existed. And guess what? The documents were very helpful to my client's case and the defendant settled shortly after the production.
If more judges did that, we wouldn't be seeing parties object to 90% of written discovery requests. It's a shame that we don't have form interrogatories and requests for production that are per se valid and not subject to objection.
Chief Judge Michael Mills appointed a nine person selection panel to screen replacements for Judge Davis' position: Supervisors Alfred Rankins and Paul Watson and attorneys Phillip Mansour, Jr., Mary Kathryn Roberts Clark, Richard G. Noble, John Keith Perry, Jr., Whitman Davis Mounger and Charles Swayze, Jr.
It's my understanding that when Magistrate Judge Sumner retired, there were in the neighborhood of a hundred applicants for the position. Keith Ball of Jackson ultimately got the appointment. I expect there to also be many applicants for Judge Davis' position.
Magistrate Judge David Sanders will transfer from Greenville to Aberdeen. Judge Davis' replacement will be based in Greenville.
