James Hay Reed

Born on September 10, 1853, in Allegheny, Pennsylvania, Reed received a Master of Arts degree in 1872 from the Western University of Pennsylvania (now the University of Pittsburgh) and read law in 1875.{{cite web|url=https://www.fjc.gov/history/judges/reed-james-hay|title=Reed, James Hay - Federal Judicial Center|website=www.fjc.gov}}

Reed was in private practice, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, from 1875 to 1891. In 1877, he formed the law firm of Knox and Reed (later Reed Smith) with Philander C. Knox which would eventually count the industrialist, Henry Clay Frick, and the wealthy Mellon family among its clients.{{sfn|Cannadine|2006|p=106}} He became a federal judge in 1891 and, following his resignation from the bench the following year, Reed resumed private practice in Pittsburgh, from 1892 to 1927.

{{main|Johnstown Flood}}

Reed and Knox were members of the South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club, which had a clubhouse upriver of Johnstown, Pennsylvania. It was responsible for maintenance of the South Fork Dam, which failed in May 1889, causing the Johnstown Flood and severe losses of life and property downriver. When word of the dam's failure was telegraphed to Pittsburgh, Frick and other members of the South Fork Club gathered to form the Pittsburgh Relief Committee for assistance to the flood victims.{{citation needed|date=June 2019}}

As its attorneys; Knox and his law partner Reed were able to fend off four lawsuits against the club; Colonel Unger, its president; and against 50 named members. Each cases was "either settled or discontinued and, as far as is known, no one bringing action profited thereby."{{Cite web |url=https://journals.psu.edu/wph/article/download/3110/2941+%26cd%3D2%26hl%3Den%26ct%3Dclnk%26gl%3Dus%26client%3Dfirefox-b-1-d |title="The Johnstown Flood", by Robert D. Christie, The Western Pennsylvania Historical Magazine, Volume 54, Number 2, April 1971. |access-date=June 3, 2019 |archive-date=June 3, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190603175721/https://journals.psu.edu/wph/article/download/3110/2941%2B%26cd%3D2%26hl%3Den%26ct%3Dclnk%26gl%3Dus%26client%3Dfirefox-b-1-d |url-status=dead }} Despite a history of neglect and Daniel Johnson Morrell campaigning to club officials, especially to Ruff, its founder, regarding the safety of the dam, to no avail;[https://books.google.com/books?id=Ey5mDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA185 Johnstown’s Flood of 1889: Power Over Truth and The Science Behind the Disaster, by Neil M. Coleman, Springer, 2018, page 185. Retrieved June 7, 2019.][https://www.nps.gov/jofl/learn/historyculture/benjamin-franklin-ruff.htm "Benjamin Franklin Ruff (1835–1887)", "Johnstown Memorial", National Park Service. Retrieved June 7, 2019.] the club was never held legally responsible for the disaster. Knox and Reed successfully argued that the dam's failure was a natural disaster, which was an Act of God, and no legal compensation was paid to the survivors of the flood. The perceived injustice aided the acceptance of “strict, joint, and several liability,” so that a “non-negligent defendant could be held liable for damage caused by the unnatural use of land.{{Cite web |url=https://www.nationalgeographic.org/thisday/may31/johnstown-flood/ |title="May 31, 1889 CE: Johnstown Flood", National Geographic. Retrieved June 3, 2019. |access-date=June 3, 2019 |archive-date=July 10, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190710205818/https://www.nationalgeographic.org/thisday/may31/johnstown-flood/ |url-status=dead }}{{cite journal|first=Jed Handelsman |last=Shugerman |title=Note: The Floodgates of Strict Liability: Bursting Reservoirs and the Adoption of Fletcher v. Rylands in the Gilded Age|journal=Yale Law Journal|volume=110 |number=2 |pages=333–377| date=2000 |url=https://www.yalelawjournal.org/note/the-floodgates-of-strict-liability-bursting-reservoirs-and-the-adoption-of-ligfletcher-v-rylandslig-in-the-gilded-age|doi=10.2307/797576 |jstor=797576 }} He also achieved some fame from settling a "bitter dispute" between fellow club members, business partners Andrew Carnegie and co-founder Henry Clay Frick, a decade later.[https://www.nps.gov/jofl/learn/historyculture/james-hay-reed.htm "James Hay Reed (1853–1927)", "Johnstown Flood", National Park Service. Retrieved June 2, 2019.]

Reed was nominated by President Benjamin Harrison on February 10, 1891, to a seat on the United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania vacated by Judge Marcus W. Acheson. He was confirmed by the United States Senate on February 20, 1891, and received his commission the same day. His service terminated on January 15, 1892, due to his resignation.

He died on June 17, 1927, in Pittsburgh, and was buried at Allegheny Cemetery.{{Cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/95143066/judge-reed-laid-to-rest-amid-reverent/ |title=Judge Reed Laid to Rest Amid Reverent Homage of City He Helped to Build |newspaper=Pittsburgh Post-Gazette |page=1 |date=1927-06-21 |access-date=2022-02-16 |via=Newspapers.com}}

{{Reflist}}

• {{cite magazine|url=http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,929064,00.html|title=Business & Finance: Silver Scoop|magazine=Time |date=12 November 1928|publisher=|via=content.time.com}}
• {{cite book |last1=Cannadine |first1=David |date=2006 |title=Mellon: An American Life |publisher=Alfred A. Knopf |isbn=0-679-45032-7}}

• {{Find a Grave|37213577}}

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{{s-bef|before=Marcus W. Acheson}}

{{s-ttl|title={{nowrap|Judge of the United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania}}|years=1891–1892}}

{{s-aft|after=Joseph Buffington}}

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Category:1853 births

Category:1927 deaths

Category:Lawyers from Pittsburgh

Category:Judges of the United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania

Category:United States federal judges appointed by Benjamin Harrison

Category:19th-century American lawyers

Category:20th-century American lawyers

Category:United States federal judges admitted to the practice of law by reading law

Category:University of Pittsburgh alumni

Category:Burials at Allegheny Cemetery