After spending 20 years on the federal bench, U.S. District Court Judge Richard Story, who lives in Gainesville, said he will take senior status.
Story made the announcement earlier this week.
The designation as a senior judge becomes effective on Dec. 1, 2018, and while the status allows Story to reduce his caseload, that won't happen right away.
"The cases that are already on my docket, I intend to finish," Story told AccessWDUN in a Thursday morning phone interview. "Until December 1, I'll be getting cases just as all the other judges are. After December 1, I will restrict the new cases and the new cases I get will primarily be in Gainesville."
Story estimated he has 180 Atlanta cases on his docket right now, and he said it may take a couple of years before those are completed. One in particular - involving 1,300 cases from around the country over alleged hernia mesh deficiencies - is one of the larger cases on Story's docket.
He said taking senior status not only will be a good move for him personally, but he said it will be beneficial for the court, too.
"Our caseload on our court is extremely heavy, and the only way we can get help is if a judge takes senior status and continues to hear cases, as I will do, and then we get a new judge appointed, so we've got one more set of hands pitching in to get the caseload handled," Story said.
Story was a Hall County Superior Court judge when he was appointed to the U.S District Court for the Northern District of Georgia by President Bill Clinton in 1998. The decision to take senior status opens up a vacancy on the bench and President Donald Trump will make the appointment.
http://accesswdun.com/article/2018/9/710025/us-district-judge-story-announces-senior-status-opens-up-vacancy-on-federal-bench-in-atlanta