Scott Olin Wright

Scott Olin Wright (January 15, 1923 – July 11, 2016) was a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Western District of Missouri.

Education and career

Wright was born in Haigler, Nebraska. During World War II, he was a cadet in the United States Navy from 1942 to 1943, and then a United States Marine Corps Captain and Aviator from 1943 to 1946. Following the war, Wright received a Bachelor of Laws from University of Missouri School of Law in Columbia, Missouri in 1950. He was in private practice in Columbia from 1950 to 1954, and was a city attorney for Columbia from 1951 to 1953. From 1954 to 1958, he was a prosecutor for Boone County, Missouri, then returned to private practice in Columbia until 1979.

Federal judicial service

On May 24, 1979, Wright was nominated by President Jimmy Carter to a new seat on the United States District Court for the Western District of Missouri created by Congress. He was confirmed by the United States Senate on September 25, 1979, and received his commission the following day. He served as Chief Judge of the Western District of Missouri from 1985 to 1990. He assumed senior status on October 5, 1991, serving in that status until his death on July 11, 2016, in Kansas City, Missouri.

Decisions, Innovator, Reputation, and Legacy

Judge Wright was respected, plain-spoken, and known for his unconventional demeanor, which sometimes amused or annoyed those in the courtroom. “One of a kind” was a phrase offered by several people who knew Wright. “First off, no one ever had so much fun wearing the robe as Judge Wright,” Mark Morris, a former federal court reporter for The Kansas City Star, posted on Facebook. “The job was a delight to him every day. Covering him as a journalist was a hoot, from the courtroom to his chambers.” He combined damage claims from the Hyatt Regency hotel collapse in Kansas City into one bundle.

Sen. Claire McCaskill of Missouri, whose family and Wright’s were close, said last year that Wright was “one of the most self-effacing federal judges in the country in terms of his ability to laugh at himself.” Wright was born in a farmhouse in Haigler, Neb. The family lost the farm to foreclosure and moved to Missouri. “Had it not been for the Depression, Scott probably would have become a rich Republican Nebraska farmer. Or not,” according to Wright’s colorful obituary. “Unquestionably, Scott’s family circumstances informed his devotion to the less fortunate and his keen devotion to fair play.” Wright suspended his college education to enlist for duty in World War II and was a Navy cadet and a Marine Corps aviator in the Pacific. He graduated from the University of Missouri School of Law in 1950. He served as Columbia city attorney and then Boone County prosecutor before going into private practice in Columbia for more than 20 years until he was appointed to the federal bench. “One of his most prized cases was one in which he represented a husband in an ‘alienation of affections’ case and won the sizable verdict of $1.00,” Wright’s obituary said.

Judge Wright was incredibly intelligent, took their role and responsibility seriously, and shared a passion for doing justice. Judge Wright often prefaced what he wanted to say with the phrase "Now listen." Wright was also controversial. Many lawyers underestimated Judge Wright’s intellect, but he had an uncanny ability to cut through the fog of sophistry (though he would have called it something else) and, like a chess player, he was able to anticipate how a case or trial would play out. He also was decisive and fearlessly independent in his rulings. Judge Wright understood that his job was to serve the public, not the wealthy and powerful, and he admittedly had a soft spot for the underdog. His rulings did not necessarily favor the little guy, but he made sure to give everyone a fair shot in his courtroom, even if they lacked the resources of the government or big business. He was committed to equal justice. Judge Wright also was a fierce protector of civil rights, including rulings upholding a woman’s right to reproductive freedom, and a consent decree requiring sweeping changes in the conditions of confinement at Missouri State Penitentiary.

Fueled by his fearlessness and focus on doing justice, Judge Wright was one of the most innovative judges in the history of the Western District of Missouri or, for that matter, the entire country. After the 1981 Hyatt Skywalk disaster in which more than 100 people died and hundreds more were injured, he certified one of the first mass-tort class actions because he thought it would be more fair and efficient for the victims and their families instead of litigating individual cases over the next decade. The Eighth Circuit reversed Judge Wright’s certification of the Hyatt litigation as a mandatory class.' Throughout his time on the bench, Judge Wright was willing to try and adopt many other procedural innovations that made the process more efficient and served the interests of justice. Judge Wright also pioneered the use of telephone conferences to resolve discovery disputes, which saved time and money for the parties and allowed him to spend more time in the courtroom instead of wasting time wading through lengthy paper filings. He was the first in the district to use electronic recording instead of a stenographer, and he experimented with various forms of alternative dispute resolution (ADR), including summary jury trials, nonbinding arbitration, and mediation. After several years of trying various forms of ADR, he was a leading advocate for a districtwide Early Assessment Program, which required the parties to engage in good faith settlement negotiation at the outset of a case and became a model for the country. He was also an early adopter of in-trial procedures that improved the quality of justice by considering the role and perspective of jurors. When he became a judge, jurors were forbidden to take notes or ask questions until they went into deliberations. Judge Wright thought the ban on notetaking was odd, given that he and the lawyers were constantly making notes during a trial to help them remember what they had heard, and his practice of giving each juror a notebook at the outset of a trial is now commonplace. He also saw how lawyers could be so deeply involved in a case that they would overlook important details or background information that jurors needed to know. He also questioned why judges, but not jurors, were allowed to ask questions, so he became one of the first in the country to let them submit questions (subject to his approval over whether they were appropriate) during the trial. Judge Wright also was instrumental in overhauling the jury instructions used in federal court. When he joined the bench, he was astounded by the long-winded and often incomprehensible instructions given to the jury, so he and Judge Ross Roberts spearheaded a project to focus on and simplify them. The result was the Eighth Circuit Model Instructions, which are the most comprehensive and useful in the federal judicial system. All of these innovations—and his entire approach to being a federal district judge—were grounded in Judge Wright’s love of the law, his belief that there always is room for improvement in the administration of justice, and his faith in the jury system. He often said, and genuinely believed, that the collective wisdom of a group of jurors was more valuable than the view of any single judge. He also recognized that the justice system is not the province of the privileged but an integral part of government of the people, for the people, and by the people.The Federal Lawyer, Hon. Scott O. Wright
U.S. District Judge for the Western District of Missouri
by Larry M. Schumaker and Roger C. Geary

Like so many members of his generation, Judge Wright cherished our system of government and his responsibility as a citizen of this great republic. He also understood that, while his role as a federal judge carried even greater responsibility, it did not make him better or smarter than the people he served; he simply had a different job in the legal system, and wearing a robe had little effect on his fun-loving personality. Every lawyer who ever appeared before Judge Wright has a story to tell about him, and many have playfully imitated his distinctively loud and high-pitched voice or his boisterous cackle. His self-effacing and plain-spoken manner also led many to overlook his razor-sharp mind and uncanny ability to cut to the core of complex legal issues, which they did at their peril. His casual manner also made him a favorite of court personnel, and his law clerks treasured the time they spent working for him. Through it all, Judge Wright made his job appear deceptively simple by focusing on doing the right thing, never being afraid to try something new, and trusting the jury system. He was a living embodiment of the maxim “actions speak louder than words,” and while he never said it directly, his example left this lasting legacy for everyone who knew him: to take our responsibilities seriously but never take ourselves too seriously, and to make sure we have a little fun along the way.

Origins, death, and his desire for his ashes to be spread at his hometown ranch birthsite

_{Judge Wright was born on Jan. 15, 1923, at his parents’ ranch home just a short distance west of Haigler, Neb. He was the second oldest of six children. Both of his parents grew up in rural Missouri, and both graduated from the University of Missouri. They married in 1918 and three years later bought a 1,500-acre ranch in the southwest corner of Nebraska. The family home didn’t have electricity or indoor plumbing, but Judge Wright fondly remembered exploring the great outdoors and commuting on horseback to a one-room schoolhouse run by Miss Boyle. (That one-room schoolhouse, built about 1897, was moved to town from the country and restoration was completed in October 2010 by Stan and LaNeta Carlock, brother Marvin Carlock—friends of Judge Wright—and by volunteers).http://genealogytrails.com/neb/dundy/schools/67s/dist67southrestore.html Daily chores taught him the importance of hard work, but there was plenty of free time to play with his siblings and teach them how to swim in the Arickaree River. Most of all, he enjoyed hanging around the ranch hands and listening to them swap stories. As Judge Wright explained years later, his trademark colorful vocabulary traces all the way back to when he learned a lot of words from the ranch hands that were not part of Miss Boyle’s curriculum. Judge Wright's character and caring about the common man came from his upbringing and his experiences. In 1931, the Great Depression hit the Great Plains in full force. Banks closed their doors, and prices for crops and beef plummeted. In 1933, Judge Wright’s parents lost the ranch to foreclosure. His father was devastated after working so hard for many years and having nothing to show for it. Judge Wright was 10 years old when his parents moved the family back to their home state of Missouri. Like many who were facing similar or worse challenges, Judge Wright’s family revered FDR for rescuing the country from catastrophe. His mother came from a family of Democrats, but his father had been a reliable Republican until he lost the ranch. There was no way to know it at the time, but this twist of fate played a pivotal role in Judge Wright’s appointment to the bench four decades later: as he liked to quip, if not for the Great Depression, he might have stayed on the ranch and ended up a rich Republican from Nebraska. The Wright family was more fortunate than most because their father had a degree in agriculture, which qualified him for a private-sector job teaching other farmers how to use state-of-the-art practices so that they could stay on their land. Besides helping his family avoid the devastation that befell so many, this reinforced to Judge Wright and his siblings the importance of education and looking out for others.}

_{Wright donated his body to science for medical research. After this, Senior Federal Judge Scott O. Wright's ashes came home to his birthplace in Haigler, NE, a little over two years after his death on July 22, 2018. (In 2013, five years prior to his death, Judge Wright had personally requested his hometown friends Stan and Marv Carlock take Judge Wright's ashes home.) And so on this July 22, 2018 date, they took another Haigler boy home—just as they promised they would. The old Haigler Cornerstone Museum jeep carried his ashes. In recognition of his courageous military service, the jeep was equipped with a flying U.S. flag and a Marine banner. The ashes were driven from the one-room schoolhouse School District 67 museum of Dundy County, where Scott had attended up through 1933 at age 10 (the schoolhouse was relocated to Haigler and refurbished in 2010). to his parents' old abandoned ranch home west of town. The place he was born. There his ashes were scattered at the place he had requested in 2013: in the grass where his mother Martha Wright's garden once was. It was a place of treasured memories for Scott. Memories of time spent with his mother in an activity he loved as a young boy.}. A place where he learned the importance of hard work, education, empathy, and looking out for others. And a place where he experienced the hard life he and his family had to suffer when they lost the ranch house in bankruptcy during the depression. These experiences and the character qualities he developed helped him excel in his service to the citizens of the Western Federal District of Missouri.

Book

Judge Wright wrote a book in 2007 titled:
Never in Doubt: Memoirs of an Uncommon Judge Hardcover – January 1, 2007 by Scott O. Wright
'

Donations to the University of Missouri Law School

Profits from a book Wright co-authored, "''Never in Doubt'', Memoirs of an Uncommon Judge,” were donated to the Missouri University Law School. In 2007, Wright also pledged $100,000 to fund a scholarship at the school. “I was happy to do it,” he said at the time. “I feel like the University of Missouri did me a great favor for me by putting me through law school.

Read more at: https://www.kansascity.com/news/local/article88953827.html#storylink=cpy

Read more at: https://www.kansascity.com/news/local/article88953827.html#storylink=cpyThe Kansas City Star, July 11, 2016, Author Matt Campbell

Death and Burial

Read more at: https://www.kansascity.com/news/local/article88953827.html#storylink=cpy

Read more at: https://www.kansascity.com/news/local/article88953827.html#storylink=cpy

References

Sources

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1923 births
2016 deaths
Judges of the United States District Court for the Western District of Missouri
United States district court judges appointed by Jimmy Carter
20th-century American judges
People from Dundy County, Nebraska
Military personnel from Nebraska
United States Marine Corps personnel of World War II
University of Missouri School of Law alumni
United States Marine Corps officers

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