One in a series on local judges.
by Sean McManus
Staff Writer
In a courthouse full of Republicans, George Proctor is a Democrat. One way to find that out is to simply to have him tell you. The other way, is to dissect the way he views his job as a federal bankruptcy judge.
The term federal bankruptcy judge is actually redundant. By order of the United States Constitution, bankruptcy is a federal position. It makes sense if you think about it. Otherwise, people could just leave the state to avoid creditors.
But Proctor, who handles about 6,000 bankruptcy cases a year, both personal and commercial, knows that even good people hit hard times and often need a fresh start in life.
“People rack up ridiculous medical bills because they get sick, people get divorced, people lose their job,” said Proctor, 77. “It’s not always people who are shirking their responsibility who file for bankruptcy.”
The Middle District of Florida, over which Procter presides, ranks third in the nation in terms of the total number of bankruptcies. There are about 12,000 bankruptcies here per year (6,000 for Proctor and 6,000 for the other bankruptcy judge in Jacksonville, Jerry Funk) The only other districts ranking higher are in California, which includes Los Angeles, and Illinois, which includes Chicago. Proctor blames the high numbers mostly on the warm weather.
“People will lose their job at a steel mill in Ohio and move to Florida,” he said. “But even this article you’re writing will up our intake. People will read it and say, ‘You know, maybe this is my only way out.’ ”
Proctor is not an advocate of bankruptcy. First of all, he’s a judge, so he’s neutral. But, he said, there is another side that people who have never had to deal with bankruptcy often don’t get.
Proctor said that in Florida bankruptcies don’t really fluctuate with the economy as much as people might think.
“Sure, the latest stream of corporate bankruptcies will mean slightly higher numbers, but there’s always a pretty steady stream.”
“Enron isn’t really a troubled case in my book,” said Proctor. “The people who lost their jobs along with their retirement savings — those are the troubled cases.”
About 10 percent of the bankruptcies that cross Proctor’s desk are businesses. The rest are personal.
When Proctor, a Jacksonville native, enrolled at the University of Florida on the G.I. Bill in 1946, a bachelor’s and law degree could be completed in three years. He was just coming off a four-year duty in 1st Marine Division during World War II. The July 4, 1995 edition of the Daily Record recounted a trip Proctor and his wife Gloria made that year to Okinawa on the 50th anniversary of the last great battle of that war.
When Proctor graduated in 1949, he “hung out his shingle” in Jacksonville.
“Those weren’t the days of big firms,” he said. “There was Marks Gray, Rogers Towers and Mahoney Hadlow. But most of us practiced alone.”
Proctor practiced law for over 25 years, until 1975. He said it was the kind of law where “if you’ve got a buck, I’ll help you.” That meant a lot of personal injury and workers compensation.
Unfortunately, Proctor said, much of the themes that surrounded being a Southern lawyer in the 1950s and 1960s revolved around the race card.
“The white lawyers and the black lawyers were civil to each other, but they remained separate,” said Proctor. “I’m glad those days are gone.”
In the early 1970s, Proctor served as a state judge of industrial claims until he was approached by a committee of judges and lawyers whose job it was to find a qualified candidate to fill a vacancy in federal court.
“At first it didn’t seem that interesting and the money was terrible,” said Proctor. “The first thing my wife asked was, ‘How much does it pay?’ The answer was about 50 percent of what I was making as a private attorney.”
The joke, of course, was that he would have to file for bankruptcy.
But something inside spurred Proctor. Maybe it was the stature that comes with being a federal judge. Maybe it was a genuine desire to help people. Proctor concedes that the field wasn’t that crowded, but in a decision made at the highest levels of the United States government, Proctor was appointed to U.S. Bankruptcy Court.
“A judge is an arbiter, he’s not on the playing field,” said Proctor. “It’s my job to make sure that only honest people are discharged from their debt.”
And wiping away debt is a heady job.
“I feel like it’s a very necessary job,” said Proctor. “And I know what I’m doing.”
Proctor gets to work every morning at 5 a.m. After all, he’s got less than 365 days to make rulings on 6,000 cases. But he spends some of that quiet morning time reading, and he’s a big fan of history.
“I think since I served in World War II, I’ve got an appreciation for history,” said the judge, who mostly concentrates on non-fiction. On his desk last week was “A World at Arms,” a comprehensive history of World War II and a biography of David Ben Gurion, the first prime minister of Israel.
“And I’m a Gator fan,” Proctor said. “And sports in general.”
With three children and five grandchildren, Proctor has no plans for retirement. There is no mandatory retirement on the federal bench, and Proctor is in good health.
Proctor once said that the reason why he chose the Marines as opposed to other branches of the military when he enlisted to fight in World War II, was because “it was the toughest.”