Harvey Hale dies suddenly of a heart attack by his swimming pool, an event that leaves a vacancy on the circuit court and changes the immediate prospects of Rudy Baylor’s case against Great Benefit. Because Hale had been inclined to dismiss the Black family’s lawsuit but had not signed an order, his death leaves the case alive for a new judge to consider.

The Judge and the Pending Case

Before his death, Hale had heard arguments on Great Benefit’s motion to dismiss. Rudy’s account of the hearing records Hale’s skepticism about the lawsuit and his reluctance to let it continue in his court; he suggested that Rudy could refile in federal court rather than leave the case on his docket. The judge’s apparent inclination to dismiss made the case’s status precarious, but his view had not yet become a signed ruling.

Death and Immediate News

Deck Shifflet tells Rudy the news early one morning: Hale, sixty-two and on the bench for eleven years, has died after a heart attack by his swimming pool. The newspaper gives the death prominent coverage, including an obituary photograph and reflections from colleagues. One of those quoted in the article is Leo F. Drummond, Hale’s friend and former roommate, linking the judge’s death to the opposing lawyer who had argued for dismissal.

At nine o’clock, Rudy checks the Black v. Great Benefit file in the circuit clerk’s office. Hale did not sign an order dismissing it before his death, so the lawsuit remains active. The discovery is a concrete reprieve, not a ruling on the merits: the case survives because the judge’s decision was still unfinished.

The Vacancy and Its Consequences

The vacancy sets off speculation about Hale’s replacement. The newspaper notes that Shelby County is evenly divided between Black and white residents while only seven of its nineteen circuit judges are Black, and that a prior effort to appoint a Black judge to a vacancy had failed. Tyrone Kipler, a Harvard-educated partner at Booker Kane’s firm, had been a leading candidate in that earlier contest. After Hale’s death, the mayor and other local leaders press for Kipler, and the governor appoints him to serve until the next regular election.

The change in judges alters the case’s pace as well as its immediate survival. Rudy asks Kipler to fast-track the lawsuit, and Kipler sets a schedule allowing four months for discovery before trial. Under Hale, the case had faced a possible dismissal; under his successor, it moves toward a prompt jury decision. Hale’s death thus functions as a turning point in the litigation, though the new judge’s appointment—not the death alone—determines what happens next.