United States District Court for the Northern District of Indiana

• Court
• Judges

Northern District of Indiana Seventh Circuit Chief: Philip Simon Judges: 5 Posts: 5 Vacancies: 0 Active judges DeGuilio • Miller • Springmann • Van Bokkelen Senior Judges Lee • Lozano • Moody Magistrate Judges Cosbey • Cherry • Martin • Nuechterlein 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 Indiana is a United States district court. It was created in 1928 by an act of Congress that split Indiana into two separate districts, northern and United States District Court for the Southern District of Indiana. As part of the act, the Northern District was divided into three divisions, South Bend, Fort Wayne and Hammond (which has a sub-office in Lafayette). When decisions of the court are appealed, they are appealed to the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals based in Downtown Chicago at the Everett M. Dirksen Federal Courthouse and Building. The court has eight judges and four magistrate judges.

Divisions of the Northern District

• Fort Wayne: Adams County, Allen County, Blackford County, DeKalb County, Grant County, Huntington County, Jay County, LaGrange County, Noble County, Steuben County, Wells County, and Whitley County.

• Hammond: Lake County and Porter County.

• Lafayette: Benton County, Carroll County, Jasper County, Newton County, Tippecanoe County, Warren County and White County.

• South Bend: Cass County, Elkhart County, Fulton County, Kosciusko County, LaPorte County, Marshall County, Miami County, Pulaski County, St. Joseph County, Starke County and Wabash County.

Vacancy warning level

The United States District Court for the Northern District of Indiana's vacancy warning level is currently set at green. The court currently has zero vacancies out of their five posts. There are no pending appointments for the district.

Jurisdiction

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

The geographic jurisdiction of the Northern District of Indiana consists of all the following counties in the northern part of the state of Indiana. There are three court divisions, each covering the following counties: The Fort Wayne Division, covering Adams, Allen, Blackford, DeKalb, Grant, Huntington, Jay, LaGrange, Noble, Steuben, Wells, and Whitley Counties. The South Bend Division, covering Cass, Elkhart, Fulton, Kosciusko, LaPorte, Marshall, Miami, Pulaski, St. Joseph, Starke, and Wabash Counties. The Hammond Division, covering Benton, Carroll, Jasper, Lake, Newton, Porter, Tippecanoe, Warren, and White Counties. When decisions of the court are appealed, they are appealed to the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals based in Downtown Chicago at the Everett M. Dirksen Federal Courthouse and Building.

Cases heard

The Northern District of Indiana 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	2014	2160	4174	2066	2108	8.2	9.8	148(8.9%)	7.3	25
2009	1880	2071	3951	1932	2019	8.3	10.2	132(8.5%)	12.0	28
2008	1848	1975	3823	1954	1869	9.0	11.0	91(6.2%)	11.0	29
2007	2057	1984	4041	2266	1775	8.8	10.6	38(2.6%)	.0	27
2006	2049	2326	4375	2288	2087	9.0	10.8	44(2.7%)	.0	22

*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 Indiana has four 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
Fort Wayne Division	E. Ross Adair Federal Building and U. S. Courthouse 1300 S. Harrison St. Fort Wayne, IN 46802	260-423-3000
Hammond Division	US District Court 5400 Federal Plaza Hammond, IN 46320	219-852-6500
Lafayette Division	The Charles A. Halleck Federal Building 230 N. Fourth St. Lafayette, IN 47901	765-420-6250
South Bend Division	Robert A. Grant U.S. Courthouse 204 S Main St South Bend, IN 46601	574-246-8000

Court history

Indiana was established as one judicial district by Congress on March 3, 1817 with one post to cover the entire state. This district court was not 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 United States Supreme Court.

On March 3, 1837, Statute 5 Stat. 176 allowed Congress to repeal the circuit court jurisdiction of the U.S. District Court for the District of Indiana, and then assigned the district over to the Seventh Circuit. Congress again re-organized the circuits on January 28, 1863, and assigned the District of Indiana to the Eighth Circuit, and then again over to the Seventh Circuit on July 23, 1866.

Statute 45 Stat. 437 on April 21, 1928 divided the District of Indiana into two judicial districts known as the Northern District of Indiana and the Southern District of Indiana. A judgeship was assigned to each new district. Over time 4 additional judicial posts were added for a total of 5 current posts.

Judicial posts

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

Year	Statute	Total Seats
April 21, 1928	45 Stat. 437	1
February 10, 1954	68 Stat. 8	2
May 19, 1961	75 Stat. 80	3
October 20, 1978	92 Stat. 1629	4
December 1, 1990	104 Stat. 5089	5

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 Indiana.

Federal courthouse

Four separate courthouses serve the Northern District of Indiana.

Major news

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

See also

• United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit

External links

• United States District Court, Northern District of Indiana
• Official Website of the United States Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Indiana
• Judges of the Northern District of Indiana
• Northern District of Indiana

References

Northern District of Indiana Seventh Circuit Chief: Philip Simon Judges: 5 Posts: 5 Vacancies: 0 Active judges DeGuilio • Miller • Springmann • Van Bokkelen Senior Judges Lee • Lozano • Moody Magistrate Judges Cosbey • Cherry • Martin • Nuechterlein Former Judges

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

To date, 16 judges have been seated on the District Court for the Northern District of Indiana. There are four serving the court at present, with three additional judges on senior status.

Active judges

Article III judges

See: Article III federal judge
The United States District Court for the Northern District of Indiana has 5 posts and 0 vacancies. The current Chief Judge is Robert Miller. This is a list of the current judges on the court:

Judge	Born	Home	Appointed by	Active	Chief	Preceeded	Bachelors	Law
Judge Robert Miller	1950	South Bend, IN	Reagan	12/17/1985 - Present	2003 - 2010	New Seat|98 Stat. 333	Northwestern U., B.A., 1972	Indiana U. School of Law, J.D., 1975
Judge Theresa Springmann	1956	Gary, IN	W. Bush	6/24/2003 - Present		James T. Moody	Indiana U., B.A., 1977	U. of Notre Dame, J.D., 1980
Judge Joseph Van Bokkelen	1943	Chicago, IL	W. Bush	7/18/2007 - Present		Rudy Lozano	Indiana U., B.A., 1966	Indiana U. School of Law, J.D., 1969
Chief Judge Philip Simon	1962	Pittsburgh, PA	W. Bush	3/27/2003 - Present	2010 - Present	William Lee	U. of Iowa, B.A., 1984	Indiana U. School of Law, J.D., 1987
Judge Jon E. DeGuilio	1955	Hammond, Indiana	Obama	5/13/2010 - Present		Allen Sharp	U. of Notre Dame, B.A., 1977	Valparaiso U. School of Law, J.D., 1981

Pending appointments

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

Senior judges

See: Federal judges on senior status
The United States District Court for the Northern District of Indiana has 3 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 T. Moody	Reagan	2/9/1982 - 6/17/2003		6/17/2003 - Present	Indiana U., A.B., 1960	Indiana U. School of Law, LL.B., 1963
Senior Judge William Lee	Reagan	7/28/1981 - 2/3/2003	1997 - 2003	2/3/2003 - Present	Yale U., A.B., 1959	U. of Chicago Law School, J.D., 1962
Senior Judge Rudy Lozano	Reagan	2/26/1988 - 7/10/2007		7/10/2007 - Present	Indiana U., B.S., 1963	Indiana U. School of Law, LL.B., 1966

Magistrate judges

Judge	Active	Bachelors	Law
Magistrate Judge Roger Cosbey	1990 - Present	Western Michigan U., B.A., 1972	U. of Toledo, J.D., 1975
Magistrate Judge Paul Cherry	10/01/2003 - Present	Huntington U., B.A., 1973	Ohio Northern U. Law, J.D., 1977
Magistrate Judge Christopher Nuechterlein	01/10/2000 - Present	Valparaiso U., B.A., 1973	Valparaiso U. Law, J.D., 1976
Magistrate Judge John E. Martin (Indiana)	3/1/2013-Present		Valparasio University Law School

Past judges

Former Chief judges

Judge	Term
Luther Swygert	1954 - 1961
Robert Grant	1961 - 1972
George Beamer	1972 - 1974
Jesse Eschbach	1974 - 1981
William Lee	1997 - 2003
Allen Sharp	1981 - 1996
Robert Miller	2003 - 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. Allen Sharp
2. Michael Kanne
3. Jesse Eschbach
4. Thomas Whitten Slick
5. George Beamer
6. Robert Grant
7. Phil McNagny
8. William Parkinson
9. Luther Swygert