Black, Norman W., 1931-1997. Norman William Black
(1931-1997) was born in Houston, Texas. He attended the University of
Texas at Austin, receiving a B.B.A. in 1953 and an LL.B. in 1955. After
clerking for U.S. District Judge Ben Connally, Black served as an
Assistant U.S. Attorney for two years, and then practiced law in Houston
from 1960-1976. Black served as a U.S. Magistrate for the Southern
District of Texas from 1976 to 1979, when President Carter nominated him
to a new seat on the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of
Texas. Black served as chief judge of the Southern District of Texas
from 1992 until 1996, when he assumed senior status. He died in 1997 of
heart failure while vacationing in Colorado with his wife.
Black taught law at South Texas College of Law, where he served as an
adjunct professor from 1977 through 1996, and lectured at law
conferences and educational seminars all over the United States. He was
president of the Houston Philosophical Society from 1982-1983 and was a
member of the Phi Delta Phi Legal Fraternity.
Black received frequent press coverage for imposing high-dollar
sanctions against attorneys and plaintiffs. He is best known for his
record-breaking $18 million attorney fee award and his doubling of
actual damages in Exxon v. Lubrizol, 30 USPQ2d 1813 (S.D. Tex. 1994), a
patent infringement case. In his opinion, Black criticized the defense
attorneys' aggressive trial tactics. (Black's decision was reversed on
appeal to the Federal Circuit). In two of his reported opinions, Black
summarily dismissed claims of peer-on-peer sexual harassment brought
against school districts and school officials, which helped thwart a
trend to enlarge the school's duty to protect schoolchildren. In a
similar reported case, Black summarily dismissed eight children's claims
of physical and verbal abuse by a teacher. Perhaps the most
controversial decision of Black's career was his summary dismissal of an
employee's claims of discrimination in McGann v. H & H Music Co.,
742 F. Supp. 392 (S.D. Tex. 1990), even though the employer reduced its
health coverage for AIDS from $1 million to $5 thousand after learning
the employee had AIDS.
Scope and Content: Correspondence, printed material, legal
documents, and creative works, 1953-1997 (19 linear ft.), arranged in 13
series, document the judicial, teaching, administrative, and personal
activities of Norman Black. The bulk of the material covers the period
1976-1997, dating from his judicial career as a U.S. Magistrate and U.S.
District Judge.
Correspondence and printed material relating to his career as a U.S.
Magistrate and U.S. District Judge comprise approximately two-thirds of
the entire body of material. Approximately one-half of this material is
printed material and correspondence relating to legal and judicial
conferences and seminars that Black attended during his judicial career
(1976-1997). The printed material relates to travel arrangements, hotel
accommodations, and conference schedules. Legal documents comprise
approximately one fourth of the material and consist of Black's
handwritten notes taken during trial as well as copies of appellate
opinions in which Black's earlier rulings were either affirmed or
reversed. Black's bench notes, because they are his own handwritten
account of trial proceedings, are perhaps the richest group of materials
in the collection. As a U.S. District Judge, Black carried a caseload of
both criminal and civil cases on a wide range of issues of federal law.
Creative works are limited to drafts of a few speeches and published
copies of several articles written for educational seminars.
Hutcheson, Joseph C., Jr., 1879-1973. A nationally known
jurist and legal scholar, Joseph C. Hutcheson, Jr. served as federal
judge for the Southern District of Texas (1918-1931) and on the U.S.
Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit (1931-1964), including 12 years
as chief judge (1948-1959). He authored three books and numerous
articles for legal journals, including an influential 1929 Legal Realist
essay on the role of the "hunch" in judicial decisions. Valedictorian of
the Class of 1900 at The University of Texas School of Law, Hutcheson
practiced law in his native Houston from 1900 to 1918, most of that time
in partnership with his father, and was elected mayor of Houston in
1917. In 1946 he served as co-chairman of the Anglo-American Committee
of Inquiry on Jewish Problems in Palestine and Europe, which studied the
suitability of Palestine as a homeland for Jewish refugees from the
Holocaust.
Scope and Content: A large part of the collection relates
to Hutcheson's service on the Anglo-American Committee of Inquiry on
Jewish Problems in Palestine and Europe (1922-1968, bulk 1944-1948; 3
linear ft.). It includes correspondence; memoranda; photographs; printed
documents; publications; speeches by Hutcheson; transcripts of hearings
held in the U.S., Europe, and the Middle East; reports by the committee;
and reports submitted to the committee by other bodies including the
Jewish Agency for Palestine and the American Jewish Committee. Personal
& business materials (1853-1979, bulk 1900-1970; 2.7 linear ft.)
include correspondence, financial records, legal documents, and
clippings relating to Hutcheson's personal, business, legal, judicial,
professional, civic, and family affairs, particularly family business
and Hutcheson's private law practice. Correspondence with fellow judges
and court officials relate to Fifth Circuit administration, his
retirement in 1964, his judicial philosophy, and his possible
appointment to the U.S. Supreme Court; and includes a folder of
correspondence with Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. In addition,
there is biographical material on Hutcheson's family, especially his
father, Joseph C. Hutcheson, Sr., a state legislator, congressman, and
prominent Houston attorney. Speech & article materials (1893,
1934-1960; 1.3 linear ft.) include drafts and correspondence. Printed
materials (1920-1970; 3 linear ft.) include almost all of Hutcheson's
legal articles, published copies of his speeches, articles about
Hutcheson, and publications on Palestine.
Related records: See Mark W. Lambert, "South Texas' First
Dean and the Arab-Israeli Conflict", Fred Parks Law Library Footnotes
Newsletter Online 13:6 (Jan.-Apr. 2002) http://www.stcl.
edu/library/FN13-6JonesRoom.html.
Scope and Content: The collection was begun by Professor
Charles Alan Wright in the 1960s, before the 11th Circuit was split from
the 5th Circuit, and thus includes many 11th Circuit judges who were
serving on the 5th Circuit at the time of the split. Portraits of
individual judges include autographs or inscriptions by the judge, most
addressed to the University of Texas School of Law. Six group portraits,
with identification, include one taken the day before the 11th Circuit
split (1981 Sept. 30) and four taken on 1983 Jan. 10, when the 5th
Circuit sat in a rare en banc session with its former judges who had
transferred to the 11th Circuit. The collection is on display in a Law
School classroom.
Scope and Content: A collection of framed portraits of U.S.
Supreme Court justices, many including autographed inscriptions,
facsimile autographs, or autograph letters and documents. There are
individual portraits of all justices up to the present, in addition to a
few group portraits. The collection was begun by Professor Charles Alan
Wright in the 1960s, and is on display in a Law School classroom.
