Richard W. Vollmer Jr.
Judge Vollmer no longer hears cases. This profile is preserved as a historical record of how they ruled.
How Judge Vollmer decides
Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
What persuades
He required removing defendants to support jurisdictional amount allegations with evidence rather than assertion.
“Montage has not presented any evidence indicating that the damages in this case satisfy the federal jurisdictional threshold.”
He treated the average prevailing Treasury-bill rate as a fair compensatory measure for maritime prejudgment interest.
“the average of the prevailing Treasury Bill rates over the applicable period more accurately reflects the amount of interest that Anderson could have earned on the sums due to him”
He enforced broad statutory subpoena authority even while expressing reservations about the agency’s policy choice.
“this court does not have authority to control the exercise of discretion by the Secretary of Labor.”
Procedural preferences
He treated remand orders grounded in the removal statute as immediately beyond reconsideration.
“the court is rendered powerless by section 1447(d) to reconsider that order and determine whether its decision to remand was in fact correct.”
He enforced discovery deadlines when a late witness disclosure would defeat the purpose of the rules.
“completely eviscerates the purpose of discovery and the letter and spirit of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure.”
Cautions
A defendant could not establish class-action jurisdiction by aggregating individualized claims or by relying on the overall cost of relief.
“Avis has not shown that any class member’s claim — let alone every class member’s claim — is worth more than $75,000.”
A local government could not pursue statutory tax claims where the obligations and tax proceeds belonged to the state.
“it is only the State of Alabama to whom the producers owe severance taxes”
Signed rulings
A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.
“Accordingly, this case was properly DISMISSED WITH PREJUDICE upon the filing of Slay’s notice of dismissal.”
“The court therefore GRANTS Holman’s motion to remand.”
“Thus, the court lacks jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1447(d) to reconsider that remand.”
“the court concludes that defendant is entitled to judgment as a matter of law as to plaintiffs claim that he was subjected to a hostile work environment harassment because his employer perceived him as disabled.”
“After examining the law of salvage and finds, the court declined to grant the motion.”
“For the foregoing reasons, the court GRANTS Anderson’s motion to the extent that it seeks an award of pre-judgment interest on the $62,513.16 previously awarded to him by this court.”
“Accordingly, the court GRANTS Kline’s motion to remand.”
“Plaintiffs’ motions for leave to amend their complaints to add claims under Title VII and 42 U.S.C. § 1983 are DENIED.”
“Defendants’ motion to dismiss plaintiffs’ § 1981 claims is GRANTED. These claims are DISMISSED WITH PREJUDICE.”
“Defendants’ motion for summary judgment is DENIED.”
“Accordingly, defendant’s motion for summary judgment is GRANTED and Plaintiffs motion for summary judgment is DENIED.”
“The court therefore GRANTS Nicholson’s motion to remand.”
“The third-party plaintiffs ‘motion for leave to file corrected oppositions’ (tab 56) is hereby GRANTED.”
“the ‘plaintiffs motion to dismiss, or in the alternative, for separate trials of defendants’ third party claims’ (tab 51) and the ‘motion of HNE Healthcare, Inc. to strike or, in the alternative, to dismiss the third-party complaint’ (tabs 49, 50) are hereby GRANTED to the extent that they seek dismissal of the third-party claims.”
“the ‘motion of HNE Healthcare, Inc. for a separate trial and a stay of discovery’ (tabs 47, 48) is hereby deemed MOOT.”
“defendants’ motion (tab 55) is DENIED to the extent that it moves the Court to dismiss the complaint.”
“the government’s ‘motion for order allowing the filing and serving of an amended complaint’ (tab 57) is GRANTED, and the Court hereby ALLOWS the filing and serving of an amended complaint.”
“ORDERED that the motion to strike the declaration of Barry Dean Williams, (doc. 47), is GRANTED.”
“In light of this ruling, it is FURTHER ORDERED that the ‘Motion to Correct Response to Defendant’s Proposed Fact,’ (doc. 52), is MOOT.”
Caseload & timing
From public federal docket records for this judge.
Median case duration in the sampled dockets: 959 days (N = 20).
The 20 located assigned cases were all later terminated and included prisoner civil-rights, habeas, personal-injury, employment, contract, and property matters. This archival slice does not establish the distribution of Vollmer’s full caseload.
A historical record
Judge Vollmer no longer hears cases. This profile stays available as a record of how they ruled. If you're preparing for a matter, start from the court's current bench.