United States District Court for the Northern District of Ohio

• Court
• Judges

Northern District of Ohio Sixth Circuit Chief: Solomon Oliver Judges: 11 Posts: 11 Vacancies: 0 Active judges Adams • Boyko • Gaughan • Gwin • Helmick • Lioi • Nugent • Pearson • Polster • Zouhary Senior Judges Carr • Dowd • Economus • Katz • Potter • Wells • White Magistrate Judges Armstrong • Baughman • Gallas • Limbert • McHargh • Pearson • Perelman • Vecchiarelli • White Former Judges

Key: (Numbers indicate % of seats vacant.) 0% 0%-10% 10%-25% 25%-40% More than 40%

The U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio is the United States district court for the northern half of Ohio. The main courthouse is located in Cleveland (where the chief judge and most of the Northern District's judges have chambers), along with other offices in Toledo, Akron, and Youngstown.

The United States Attorney of the Northern District of Ohio represents the United States in civil and criminal litigation in the court. When decisions of the court are appealed, they are appealed to the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals based in Downtown Cincinnati at the Potter A. Stewart Federal Courthouse and Building.

Vacancy warning level

The United States District Court for the Northern District of Ohio's vacancy warning level is currently set at green. The court currently has no vacancies.

Jurisdiction

The Counties of the Northern District of Ohio (click for larger map)

The geographic jurisdiction of the Northern District of Ohio consists of all the following counties in the northern part of the state of Ohio.

There are two court divisions, each covering the following counties:

The Eastern Division, covering Ashland, Ashtabula, Carroll, Crawford, Columbiana, Cuyahoga, Geauga, Holmes, Lake, Lorain, Mahoning, Medina, Portage, Richland, Stark, Summit, Trumbull, Tuscarawas and Wayne Counties.

The Western Division, covering Allen, Auglaize, Defiance, Erie, Fulton, Hancock, Hardin, Henry, Huron, Lucas, Marion, Mercer, Ottawa, Paulding, Putnam, Sandusky, Seneca, Van Wert, Williams, Wood and Wyandot Counties.

The main courthouse is located in Cleveland (where the chief judge and most of the Northern District's judges have chambers), along with other offices in Toledo, Akron, and Youngstown.

When decisions of the court are appealed, they are appealed to the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals based in Downtown Cincinnati at the Potter A. Stewart Federal Courthouse and Building.

Cases heard

The Northern District of Ohio has original jurisdiction over cases filed within its jurisdiction. These cases can include civil and criminal matters that fall under federal law.

Case load

Federal Court Case Load Statistics*

Year	Starting case load:	Cases filed:	Total cases:	Cases terminated:	Remaining cases:	Median time(Criminal)**:	Median time(Civil)**:	3 Year Civil cases#:	Vacant posts:##	Trials/Post
2010	5854	4361	10215	5317	4898	6.5	13.1	342(7.6%)	16.0	29
2009	4978	5972	10950	5095	5855	7.4	10.4	667(12.2%)	2.9	32
2008	5772	4895	10667	5693	4974	7.1	8.9	779(16.9%)	.0	29
2007	6884	5386	12270	6136	6134	7.3	10.0	585(11.0%)	5.2	28
2006	9123	5219	14342	6894	7448	7.0	13.5	321(5.0%)	12.9	33

*All statistics are taken from the Official Federal Courts' Website and reflect the calendar year through September.    **Time in months from filing to completion. #This statistic includes cases which have been appealed in higher courts.    ##This is the total number of months that any all judicial posts had spent vacant that year.

Clerk's office

The Northern District of Ohio has three separate courthouses. The Clerk's office is open Monday through Friday 9:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m, excluding Federal holidays. Please consult the chart below for more information:

Branch	Address	Phone number
Akron Division	John F. Seiberling Federal Building and U.S. Courthouse 2 South Main Street Akron, Ohio 44308	Phone: (330) 252-6000 Emergency Phone: (216) 522-2150
Cleveland Division	Carl B. Stokes U.S. Court House 801 West Superior Avenue Cleveland, Ohio 44113	Phone: (216) 357-7000 Emergency Phone: (216) 522-2150
Toledo Division	James M. Ashley and Thomas W. L. Ashley U.S. Courthouse 1716 Spielbusch Avenue Toledo, Ohio 43604	Phone: (419) 213-5500 Emergency Phone: (216) 522-2150
Youngstown Division	Thomas D. Lambros Federal Building and U.S. Courthouse 125 Market Street Youngstown, Ohio 44503	Phone: (330) 884-7400 Emergency Phone: (216) 522-2150

History

Court history

On February 19, 1803 the state of Ohio was organized as a judicial district with one judgeship authorized for this U.S. district court. This district court was not yet assigned to a judicial circuit and was therefore granted the same jurisdiction as the United States circuit courts, excluding appeals and writs of error, which are the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court.

On February 24, 1807, Statute 2 Stat. 420 repealed the authority of the district court in Ohio to exercise the jurisdiction of the U.S. circuit courts. The district of Ohio was reassigned to the newly organized Seventh Circuit and provided for a United States circuit court for the District of Ohio.

The state of Ohio divided into two judicial districts on February 10, 1855. These judicial districts were known as the Northern District of Ohio and the Southern District of Ohio. One judgeship was assigned to each of these districts, with the district judge serving the District of Ohio being reassigned to serve the Southern District of Ohio.

Congress went on to reorganize the circuits on July 23, 1866 and assigned the state of Ohio to the Sixth Circuit. Over time 11 additional judicial posts were added for a total of 12 current posts.

Judicial posts

The following table highlights the development of judicial posts for the Northern District of Ohio:

Year	Statute	Total Seats
February 10, 1855	10 Stat. 604	1
December 19, 1900	31 Stat 726	2(1 temporary)
February 24, 1910	36 Stat. 202	2
September 14, 1922	42 Stat. 837	3
May 1, 1941	55 Stat. 148	4
February 10, 1954	68 Stat. 8	5
May 19, 1961	75 Stat. 80	7
March 18, 1966	80 Stat. 75	7
June 2, 1970	84 Stat. 294	8
October 20, 1978	92 Stat. 1629	10
July 10, 1984	98 Stat. 347	11
December 1, 1990	104 Stat. 5089	12(1 Temporary)
December 27, 2010	Post Expired	11

Notable cases

This page is missing notable case information.

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For a searchable list of opinions, please see Justia.com-Dockets and Filings-Northern District of Ohio.

Federal courthouse

Four separate courthouses serve the Northern District of Ohio.

Major news

For new stories and other related material see Ohio judicial news.

See also

• United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit

External link

• United States District Court for the Northern District of Ohio
• US Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Ohio
• Judges of the Northern District of Ohio
• Opinions of the Northern District of Ohio

References

Northern District of Ohio Sixth Circuit Chief: Solomon Oliver Judges: 11 Posts: 11 Vacancies: 0 Active judges Adams • Boyko • Gaughan • Gwin • Helmick • Lioi • Nugent • Pearson • Polster • Zouhary Senior Judges Carr • Dowd • Economus • Katz • Potter • Wells • White Magistrate Judges Armstrong • Baughman • Gallas • Limbert • McHargh • Pearson • Perelman • Vecchiarelli • White Former Judges

Key: (Numbers indicate % of seats vacant.) 0% 0%-10% 10%-25% 25%-40% More than 40%

Active judges

Article III judges

See: Article III federal judge
The United States District Court for the Northern District of Ohio has 12 posts and 0 vacancies. The current Chief Judge is Solomon Oliver. This is a list of the current judges on the court:

Judge	Born	Home	Appointed by	Active	Chief	Preceeded	Bachelors	Law
Judge John R. Adams	1955	Orrville, OH	W. Bush	2/12/2003 - Present		George White	Bowling Green State U., B.S., 1978	U. of Akron School of Law, J.D., 1983
Judge Christopher Boyko	1954	Cleveland, OH	W. Bush	1/3/2005 - Present		Paul Matia	Mount Union College, B.A., 1976	Cleveland-Marshall College of Law, J.D., 1979
Judge James Gwin	1954	Canton, OH	Clinton	11/7/1997 - Present		Sam Bell	Kenyon College, A.B., 1976	U. of Akron School of Law, J.D., 1979
Judge Sara Lioi	1960	Canton, OH	W. Bush	3/14/2007 - Present		Lesley Wells	Bowling Green State U., B.A., 1983	The Ohio State U. College of Law, J.D., 1987
Judge Donald Nugent	1948	Minneapolis, MN	Clinton	6/30/1995 - Present		Thomas Lambros	Xavier U., Ohio, B.A., 1970	Cleveland State U., Cleveland-Marshall College of Law, J.D., 1974
Chief Judge Solomon Oliver	1947	Bessemer, AL	Clinton	5/9/1994 - Present	2010 - Present	Alice Batchelder	College of Wooster, B.A., 1969	New York U. School of Law, J.D., 1972
Judge Dan Polster	1951	Cleveland, OH	Clinton	8/3/1998 - Present		David Dowd	Harvard College, A.B., 1972	Harvard Law School, J.D., 1976
Judge Jack Zouhary	1951	Toledo, OH	W. Bush	3/28/2006 - Present		David Katz	Dartmouth College, B.A., 1973	U. of Toledo College of Law, J.D., 1976
Judge Patricia Gaughan	1953	Lakewood, OH	Clinton	12/26/1995 - Present		Ann Aldrich	St. Mary's College, B.A., 1975	Notre Dame Law School, J.D., 1978
Judge Benita Pearson	1963	Cleveland, OH	Obama	12/27/2010 - Present		Peter Economus	Georgetown U., B.S., 1985	Cleveland State U., Cleveland-Marshall College of Law, J.D., 1995
Judge Jeffrey J. Helmick	1960	Toledo, OH	Obama	6/6/2012 - Present		James Carr	Haverford College, B.A., 1977	U. of California Berkley Law, J.D., 1981

Pending appointments

There are no current pending appointments for the United States District Court for the Northern District of Ohio.

Senior judges

See: Federal judges on senior status
The United States District Court for the Northern District of Ohio has 7 judges on senior status currently. This is a list of the current senior judges on the court:

Judge	Appointed by	Active	Chief	Senior	Bachelors	Law
Senior Judge James Carr	Clinton	5/9/1994 - 6/1/2010	2004 - 2010	6/1/2010 - Present	Kenyon College, B.A., 1966	Harvard Law School, LL.B., 1969
Senior Judge David Dowd	Reagan	9/23/1982 - 6/30/1996		6/30/1996 - Present	College of Wooster, B.A., 1951	U. of Michigan Law School, J.D., 1954
Senior Judge David Katz	Clinton	10/11/1994 - 1/1/2005		1/1/2005 - Present	Ohio State U., B.S., 1955	Ohio State U. College of Law, J.D., 1957
Senior Judge Lesley Wells	Clinton	2/11/1994 - 2/14/2006		2/14/2006 - Present	Chatham College, B.A., 1959	Cleveland State University, Cleveland-Marshall College of Law, J.D., 1974
Senior Judge Peter Economus	Clinton	6/30/1995 - 7/3/2009		7/3/2009 - Present	Youngstown State U., B.A., 1967	U. of Akron School of Law, J.D., 1970
Senior Judge John Potter	Reagan	6/21/1982 - 8/1/1992		8/1/1992 - Present	U. of Toledo, Ph.B., 1940	U. of Michigan Law School, J.D., 1946
Senior Judge George White	Carter	5/23/1980 - 2/26/1999	1995 - 1999	2/26/1999 - Present		Cleveland-Marshall College of Law, J.D., 1955

Magistrate judges

Judge	Active	Bachelors	Law
Magistrate Judge Vernelis Armstrong	09/1994 - Present	Wayne State U., B.A., 1956	Wayne State U. Law, J.D., 1960
Magistrate Judge William Baughman	02/16/2000 - Present	Saint Vincent College	Notre Dame Law
Magistrate Judge George Limbert	11/08/1999 - Present	Johns Hopkins U., B.A., 1962	Case Western U., J.D., 1965
Magistrate Judge Kenneth McHargh	03/01/2004	College of Wooster, B.A., 1970	U. of Connecticut, J.D., 1974
Magistrate Judge (Recalled) David Perelman	09/14/1979 - 07/12/1999
Magistrate Judge Nancy Vecchiarelli	04/1998 - Present	Miami U., A.B., 1972	U. of Cincinnati, J.D., 1977
Magistrate Judge Greg White	03/01/2008 - Present	Kent State U., B.A., 1973	Cleveland State U., J.D., 1976
Magistrate Judge James Knepp
Magistrate Judge Kathleen B. Burke

Past judges

Former Chief judges

Judge	Term
Charles McNamee	1960 - 1960
Paul Matia	1999 - 2004
Thomas Lambros	1990 - 1995
Girard Kalbfleisch	1967 - 1969
James Connell	1960 - 1967
Frank Battisti	1969 - 1990
George White	1995 - 1999
Frank Kloeb	1959 - 1960
Paul Jones	1948 - 1959
James Carr	2004 - 2010

In order to qualify for the office of Chief Judge in one of the federal courts, a judge must have been in active service on the court for at least one year, be under the age of 65, and have not previously served as Chief Judge. A vacancy in the office of Chief Judge is filled by the judge highest in seniority among the group of qualified judges. The Chief Judge serves for a term of seven years or until age 70, whichever occurs first. The age restrictions are waived if no members of the court would otherwise be qualified for the position. Unlike the Chief Justice of the United States, a Chief Judge returns to active service after the expiration of his or her term and does not create a vacancy on the bench by the fact of his or her promotion. See 28 U.S.C. § 45.

These rules for Chief Judges in the federal judiciary have been in effect since October 1, 1982. The office of Chief Judge was created in 1948. Until August 6, 1959, the position was filled in each federal court by the longest-serving judge who had not elected to retire on what has since 1958 been known as senior status or declined to serve as Chief Judge. From then until 1982 it was filled by the senior such judge who had not turned 70.

Former judges

1. Ann Aldrich
2. Sam Bell
3. Kathleen M. O'Malley
4. Alice Batchelder
5. Robert Krupansky
6. Leroy Contie
7. Hiram V. Willson
8. Charles Taylor Sherman
9. Martin Welker
10. Augustus Ricks
11. Francis Joseph Wing
12. Robert Walker Tayler
13. William Louis Day
14. John Milton Killits
15. John Hessin Clarke
16. David Westenhaver
17. Paul Jones
18. George Philip Hahn
19. Frank Kloeb
20. Frank Battisti
21. James Connell
22. Emerich Freed
23. Ben Green
24. Girard Kalbfleisch
25. Alvin Krenzler
26. Thomas Lambros
27. John Manos
28. Paul Matia
29. Charles McNamee
30. Richard McQuade
31. William K. Thomas
32. Nicholas Walinski
33. Samuel West
34. Robert Wilkin
35. Don Young
36. Paul Weick