Judge S. Hugh Dillin

His family and the United States District Court for the Southern District of Indiana are deeply saddened by the loss of one of the Court’s beloved jurists, the Honorable S. Hugh Dillin. He passed away on Monday, March 13, 2006, at the age of 91. He had recently been living in Cambridge, Massachusetts, to be near his daughter, Pat.

Judge Dillin served the judiciary and the bar with distinction as a district judge for over forty years. He was appointed to the federal bench by President John F. Kennedy on September 22, 1961, after a distinguished career as a trial lawyer. He served as Chief Judge from 1982 to 1984 and took senior status in 1993. His appointment followed a distinguished career as a trial lawyer and state legislative leader. Through age 87, Judge Dillin continued to preside at trials and carry an active caseload.

Judge Dillin was born on June 9, 1914, in Petersburg, Indiana, the son of Samuel E. and Maude (Harrell) Dillin. Judge Dillin enrolled in Indiana University in 1932, graduating with a degree in government in 1936, and a law degree in 1938. He embarked on his legal career that same year, entering into practice with his father in Petersburg. He continued with the partnership until his appointment to the federal bench.

Judge Dillin was first elected to the Indiana House of Representatives in 1936, at the age of 22. He was twice reelected to the House, and served as Secretary and Hearing Examiner of the Public Service Commission of Indiana, resigning to volunteer for service in the Army during World War II. He later returned to Indiana and eventually served as Democratic minority leader in the House in 1951 and 1952. In 1958, Judge Dillin was elected to the Indiana Senate, where, in 1961, he was both majority leader and President Pro Tem.

When first elected to the House, Judge Dillin was still a law student. Indiana had recently adopted a requirement that new lawyers take and pass a bar examination before practicing law. The first few tests removed a sizable group of applicants who had never been to law school and failed the test. In 1937, that group attempted to persuade the Indiana Legislature to repeal the bar exam requirement. The vote in the House threatened to be close. The last member to speak on the bill was young Hugh Dillin. He told the House that if the bill was defeated, he would have to take the exam and risk flunking, but he was going to vote against the bill because the bar exam was needed to protect the public by improving the quality of the bar. That speech persuaded just enough members to change their minds, causing the bill to be narrowly defeated.

Judge Dillin served as a leader in the federal judiciary, having been elected a member of the Judicial Conference of the United States for the years 1979 to 1982. He was appointed by the Chief Justice of the United States to serve on the highly influential and respected Executive Committee of the Judicial Conference of the United States from 1980 to 1982, and, for nearly ten years, between 1983 and 1992, was a member of the national Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation.

Judge Dillin’s judicial work embraced the highest ideals of courage, integrity, intelligence and independence. He was probably best known in Indiana for his decisions requiring the desegregation of public schools in Indianapolis and Evansville, the two largest cities in the Southern District.

Early in his tenure in the 1960s, Judge Dillin oversaw the mass tort litigation resulting from a gas explosion in the crowded Indiana Coliseum that killed more than seventy people and left hundreds of others injured. Years later he was assigned the massive multibillion dollar litigation that grew out of the cancellation of the partially built Marble Hill nuclear power plant, near Hanover, Indiana. Even in his latter years on the bench, Judge Dillin presided over and decided a highly complex multidistrict patent litigation involving recombinant DNA technology utilizing human growth hormones, and also oversaw multidistrict litigation involving a widely used antidepressant. These complicated and protracted litigations were successfully managed and resolved primarily because of Judge Dillin’s masterful efforts, cases he handled while still attending to other more routine and mundane demands of his caseload.

Speaking on behalf of the Court, Larry J. McKinney, Chief Judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Indiana, commented: “Most of us as individuals are shaped by the age in which we live. Judge Dillin most certainly was. He presided during a time of great social and economic change. He came to the bench with a wonderful creative intelligence and a respect for the independence of the judiciary, as well as a great respect for the law and the Constitution, having himself come to the bench from the legislative branch. Judge Dillin distinguished himself as a jurist by his knowledge of the law, of the rules of evidence and the codes of civil and criminal procedures. His decisions as judge reflected a grave concern for the integrity of the past and a concomitant concern that the resolution of disputes reflect common decency and fairness.” Chief Judge McKinney also noted that Judge Dillin was known for being available and accessible to the public. Even amid stressful times he always answered his own telephone at home. He was also considered by all who knew him as a talented humorist, as exemplified by his answering his private telephone line in his judicial chambers with the refrain “pool room.” While in college, he had served as an editor of the college humor magazine, The Bored Walk, and was a popular Gridiron Roastmaster. Throughout his life - with little prompting - Judge Dillin was known to regale his friends and colleagues with stories of great southern Indiana wit.

One of Judge Dillin’s personal goals was to travel to every continent of the world and every state in this country. That goal was achieved when Judge Dillin traveled to Antarctica at age 84. When asked about his favorite place on the planet, however, Judge Dillin’s reply was always the same: “Pike County.”

Judge Dillin is predeceased by his wife of 57 years, Mary Eloise Humphreys Dillin, and a daughter, Diane. He is survived by daughter Dr. Patricia (Dillin) Wright, son-in-law Peter Wright, and granddaughters Sasha and Lila. 

Visiting hours will be Monday, March 20th, 4-8 p.m. at Flanner & Buchanan Broad Ripple, 1305 E. Broad Ripple Avenue, Indianapolis. Funeral services Tuesday, March 21st, 12 noon at Second Presbyterian Church, 7700 N. Meridian St., Indianapolis. On Wednesday, March 22nd, visiting hours in Petersburg, Indiana, 9-11:30 a.m. at Main Street Presbyterian Church, followed by funeral at 11:30 a.m. Burial in the Walnut Hill Cemetery, Petersburg In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations be sent to the S.E. and S.H. Dillin Scholarship, Indiana University School of Law, Bloomington, Office of Alumni and Development, 211 South Indiana Avenue, Bloomington, IN 47405.