 His service terminated on August 26, 1955, due to his death in Madison, Connecticut.Civil cases heard by Goddard included a 1929 suit filed by Anne Nichols against Universal Pictures, alleging that the screenplay for the film "The Cohens and Kellys" was plagiarized from Nichols' Broadway play "Abie's Irish Rose".Goddard's conclusion that there had been no copyright infringement was affirmed by the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in an opinion by Learned Hand.