United States District Court for the District of New Hampshire

• Court
• Judges

District of New Hampshire First Circuit Chief: Joseph Laplante Judges: 2 Posts: 3 Vacancies: 1 Active judges Barbadoro Senior Judges DiClerico • McAuliffe Magistrate Judges Muirhead Former Judges

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

The United States District Court for the District of New Hampshire is a U.S. district court.

The United States Attorney for the District of New Hampshire represents the United States in civil and criminal litigation in the court.

Vacancy warning level

The United States District Court for the District of New Hampshire's vacancy warning level is currently set at orange. The court currently has once vacancy out of their three posts, constituting 33% of their seats. There are no pending appointments for the district.

Jurisdiction

The Counties of New Hampshire (click for larger map)

The jurisdiction of the District of New Hampshire consists of all the counties in the state of New Hampshire. The court's headquarters are in Concord. When decisions of the court are appealed, they are appealed to the First Circuit Court of Appeals based in downtown Boston at the John Joseph Moakley Federal Courthouse.

Cases heard

The District of New Hampshire 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	545	763	1308	679	629	10.1	7.2	7(1.5%)	0	9
2009	645	676	1321	766	555	11.0	7.8	12(3.3%)	0	13
2008	653	727	1380	720	660	12.4	7.9	13(2.9%)	2.4	16
2007	680	709	1389	729	660	10.8	8.3	12(2.9%)	6.5	13
2006	638	808	1446	768	678	9.6	8.7	13(3%)	0	12

*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 District of New Hampshire's Clerk's office is open each business day 8:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m., however, the hours of telephone operation are 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Please consult the chart below for more information:

Address	Phone number
U. S. District Court 55 Pleasant Street Room 110 Concord, NH 03301-3941	(603) 225-1423

History

Court history

The District of Massachusetts was established by Congress with one judicial post on September 24, 1789 and assigned to the United States Court of Appeals for the Eastern Circuit, and then was later reassigned to the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit in 1801. Over time 2 additional judicial posts were added for a total of 3 current posts.

Judicial posts

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

Year	Statute	Total Seats
September 24, 1789	1 Stat. 73	1
October 20, 1978	92 Stat. 1629	2
December 1, 1990	104 Stat. 5089	3

Notable cases

For a searchable list of opinions, please see Opinions for the District of New Hampshire.

• Stolen gun liability case  Judge(s):Paul Barbadoro      *Jones v. Secord 11-1576

On July 6, 2012, a three judge panel for the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit upheld the ruling of Judge Paul Barbadoro of the United States District Court for the District of New Hampshire who held that a NH man could not be held liable for the use of his handgun in a violent crime. Gail Jones, the mother of a shooting victim, filed a lawsuit alleging that Lawrence Secord was liable for the use of his handgun by his grandson in an armed robbery that resulted in three fatalities in 2007. Secord's gun was stolen by his grandson, who broke into a locked summer cabin to obtain the firearm. Barbadoro agreed with Secord that he had taken proper precautions to secure his firearm. Judge Bruce Marshall Selya agreed, wroting the opinion of the panel consisting of Judges Jeffrey R. Howard and O. Rogeriee Thompson. He stated in the opinion, ""The record here, even when construed in the light most flattering to the plaintiff, does not show either a particularized risk of harm or a degree of foreseeability sufficient to animate this exception." Jones told the press she brought the lawsuit on to raise awareness of gun storage and risk, telling the press, "Firearms are very dangerous when they're in the wrong hands."

• NH State Medicaid Case  Judge(s):Steven McAuliffe      *Dartmouth-Hitchcock v. NHDHHS 11-cv-358-SM

On March 2, 2012, Chief Judge Steven McAuliffe of the United States District Court for the District of New Hampshire ruled against a state in a decision that will require the state Department of Health and Human Services to begin following federal guidelines with regard to Medicaid reimbursement rates. The federal government requires that the DHHS announce rate changes with a 15 day notice that provides a justification for changes, followed by a subsequent 30 day comment period. Ten New Hampshire hospitals filed suit, claiming that the state failed to give proper notice, failed to justify the changes and failed to provide hearings. McAuliffe sided with the hospitals and in his 31 page order, demanded that the state comply with the federal laws.

• Pledge of Allegiance case  Judge(s):Steven McAuliffe      *Freedom From Religion Foundation v. Hanover School Civil No. 07-cv-356-SM

Judge McAuliffe presided over a case involving the use of the term "under god" in the Pledge of Allegiance of the United States. On October 2, 2009, McAuliffe dismissed a case from the Freedom from Religion Foundation filed on behalf of the parents of two New Hampshire school students who believe their constitutional rights were being violated. The Freedom from Religion Foundation plan to file an appeal to the First Circuit Court of Appeals.

• Alleged Green Mountain Coffee accounting fraud  Judge(s):William K. Sessions

Sessions dismissed a 2012 class action lawsuit filed by shareholders alleging that Green Mountain Coffee Inc. mislead shareholders through accounting fraud. The suit was filed after the company announced that it was being investigated by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission for a $9 million difference in its accounting numbers from 2006-2010. The company maintains that the difference constituted a series of small errors and not direct malpractice on their part. Sessions justified his decision, stating, "The fact that the restatement was a collection of several small mistakes, rather than a single, large error, also minimizes any fraudulent reading." The litigants have 30 days to revise and resubmit their claim with better justification.

Federal courthouse

The Warren B. Rudman U.S. Courthouse for the New Hampshire district is located in Concord.

Major news

For new stories and other related material see New Hampshire judicial news.

See also

• United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit
• News: 1st Circuit upholds NH District Court gun liability ruling, July 12, 2012

External links

• United States District Court for the District of New Hampshire Official Website
• United States Attorney for the District of New Hampshire Official Website
• United States Probation and Pretrial Services of New Hampshire Official Website
• Opinions of the District of New Hampshire
• Judges of the District of New Hampshire

References

District of New Hampshire First Circuit Chief: Joseph Laplante Judges: 2 Posts: 3 Vacancies: 1 Active judges Barbadoro Senior Judges DiClerico • McAuliffe Magistrate Judges Muirhead 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 District of New Hampshire has 3 posts and 1 vacancy. The current Chief Judge is Joseph Laplante. This is a list of the current judges on the court:

Judge	Born	Home	Appointed by	Active	Chief	Preceeded	Bachelors	Law
Judge Paul Barbadoro	1955	Providence, RI	H.W. Bush	10/9/1992 - Present	1997 - 2004	Shane Devine	Gettysburg College, B.A., 1977	Boston College Law, J.D., 1980
Chief Judge Joseph Laplante	1965	Nashua, NH	W. Bush	12/28/2007 - Present	2011 - Present	Joseph DiClerico	Georgetown U., A.B., 1987	Georgetown U. Law, J.D., 1990

Pending appointments

There are no current pending appointments for the United States District Court for the District of New Hampshire.

Senior judges

See: Federal judges on senior status
The United States District Court for the District of New Hampshire has 3 judge 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 Steven McAuliffe	H.W. Bush	10/10/1992 - 3/31/2013	2004 - 2011	4/1/2013-Present	Virginia Military Institute, B.A., 1970	Georgetown U. Law, J.D., 1973
Senior Judge Joseph DiClerico	H.W. Bush	8/17/1992 - 3/15/2007	1992 - 1997	3/15/2007 - Present	Williams College, B.A., 1963	Yale Law, LL.B., 1966

Magistrate judges

Judge	Active	Bachelors	Law
Magistrate Judge Landya McCafferty	2010 - Present

Past judges

Former Chief judges

Judge	Term
Shane Devine	1979 - 1992
Joseph DiClerico	1992 - 1997
Paul Barbadoro	1997 - 2004
Steven McAuliffe	2004 - 2011

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

Seat 1	Seat 2	Seat 3
Judge Term Morris 10/25/1921 - 4/30/1943 Sullivan 9/26/1789 - 1/23/1795 Pickering 2/11/1795 - 3/12/1804 Sherburne 3/26/1804 - 8/2/1830 Harvey 11/2/1830 - 4/7/1866 Clark 7/27/1866 - 1/2/1891 Aldrich 2/20/1891 - 9/15/1921 Connor 12/9/1944 - 12/18/1967 Bownes 1968 - 1977 Devine 6/27/1978 - 9/8/1992 Barbadoro 10/9/1992 - Present	Judge Term Loughlin 4/26/1979 - 5/15/1989 Stahl 1990 - 1992 McAuliffe 10/10/1992 - 3/31/2013	Judge Term Laplante 12/28/2007 - Present DiClerico 8/17/1992 - 3/15/2007