Christy Comstock
How Judge Comstock rules, drawn from 33 signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
About Judge Comstock
Christy Comstock has served as a U.S. magistrate judge for the Western District of Arkansas since May 2021, sitting in Fayetteville. She previously practiced law in the area. She earned her undergraduate and law degrees from the University of Arkansas.
Judge Comstock's practices and standing orders
The court's website lists no individual practices or standing orders of Judge Comstock's own (checked October 9, 2026), so the court's local rules and general orders are the place to look (court page ↗).
Standing orders for every case in this court
Orders the court applies to all of its cases, whichever judge has them, as published on the court's website (checked October 9, 2026).
How Judge Comstock decides
Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
Procedural preferences
In Stephens v. Southwestern Electric Power, Comstock screened the complaint before service and recommended dismissal for lack of subject-matter jurisdiction because it did not adequately plead the amount in controversy for diversity jurisdiction.
“Magistrate Judge Comstock conducted a pre-service screening of the Complaint under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(e)(2) and determined that the case should be dismissed due to a lack of subject matter jurisdiction.”
Signed rulings
A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.
“the R&R (Doc. 34) is ADOPTED IN ITS ENTIRETY, and Defendant's Motion for Summary Judgment (Doc. 28) is GRANTED. Judgment will enter concurrently with this opinion.”
“the Report and Recommendation is proper and should be and hereby is ADOPTED IN ITS ENTIRETY. Accordingly ... the decision of the ALJ is REVERSED and this case is REMANDED to the Commissioner for further consideration pursuant to sentence four of 42 U.S.C. § 405(g).”
“The Plaintiff's Motion (Doc. 22) is GRANTED, and the Court hereby orders that Plaintiff is entitled to compensation under the EAJA for 21.5 hours of attorney time at an hourly rate of $206.00 for work performed in 2021, and 3.1 hours of attorney time at an hourly rate of $221.00 for work performed in 2022. The total award is therefore $5,114.10.”
Comstock conducted a 28 U.S.C. 1915(e)(2) pre-service screening and recommended sua sponte dismissal for lack of subject-matter jurisdiction because the complaint did not adequately plead the amount in controversy required for diversity jurisdiction under Section 1332(a). Brooks adopted the R&R in its entirety 25 days later, overruled the plaintiff's non-specific objection, denied a futile motion for leave to amend, and dismissed without prejudice. The ruling shows that she screens in forma pauperis complaints for jurisdiction at the outset.
“The Court has reviewed this case and, being well and sufficiently advised, finds that the Report and Recommendation is proper and should be and hereby is ADOPTED IN ITS ENTIRETY. Accordingly, Defendant's guilty plea is accepted.”
“The Court has reviewed this case and, being well and sufficiently advised, finds that the Report and Recommendation is proper and should be and hereby is ADOPTED IN ITS ENTIRETY. Accordingly, Defendant's guilty plea is accepted.”
“The Court has reviewed this case and, being well and sufficiently advised, finds that the Report and Recommendation is proper and should be—and hereby is—ADOPTED IN ITS ENTIRETY. Accordingly, Defendant's guilty plea is accepted.”
“IT IS THEREFORE ORDERED that the Report and Recommendation is proper and is ADOPTED IN ITS ENTIRETY. Accordingly, the Unopposed Motion to Remand (Doc. 15) is GRANTED, the decision of the ALJ is REVERSED, and this case is REMANDED to the Commissioner for further consideration pursuant to sentence four of 42 U.S.C. § 405(g).”
“IT IS ORDERED that the Report and Recommendation is ADOPTED IN ITS ENTIRETY. The Plaintiff's Motion (Doc. 20) is GRANTED, and the Court hereby orders that Plaintiff is entitled to compensation under the EAJA for 2.1 hours of attorney work during 2023 at a rate of $236, 22.0 hours of attorney work during 2024 at the hourly rate of $245, and 1.20 hours of paralegal work at a rate of $75 hour, for a total award of $5,975.60.”
“IT IS ORDERED that the Report and Recommendation is ADOPTED IN ITS ENTIRETY. The Plaintiff's Motion (Doc. 25) is GRANTED, and the Court hereby orders that Plaintiff is entitled to compensation under 42 U.S.C. § 406(b) in the amount of $20,847.00. Counsel is to remit to Plaintiff $5,975.60, the smaller fee awarded pursuant to the EAJA.”
“IT IS ORDERED that the Report and Recommendation is ADOPTED IN ITS ENTIRETY. The Plaintiff's Motion (Doc. 18) is GRANTED IN PART AND DENIED IN PART, and the Court hereby orders that Plaintiff is entitled to compensation under the EAJA for attorney's fees in the total amount of $5,868.35.”
“IT IS ORDERED that the R&R (Doc. 21) is ADOPTED IN FULL. The Motion for Attorney Fees Under the Equal Access to Justice Act (Doc. 19) is GRANTED. Plaintiff is awarded fees and costs in the total amount of $4,813.50.”
Caseload & timing
From public federal docket records for this judge.
The reviewed work includes Social Security appeals and fee requests, prisoner civil-rights cases, habeas petitions, guilty pleas, suppression issues, and screening matters. Recommendations in referred cases are distinguished from final rulings entered with the parties' consent.
How long civil cases take in this court
For the whole of United States District Court for the Western District of Arkansas, not for Judge Comstock: median time from filing to disposition of the civil cases the court closed in the 12 months ending September 30, 2025, as reported by the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts.
| Cases | Median time | |
|---|---|---|
| All civil cases closed | 468 | 9.5 months |
| Closed with no court action | 38 | 3.9 months |
| Closed before pretrial | 341 | 8.8 months |
| Closed during or after pretrial | 85 | 11.4 months |
| Closed during trial | 4 | not reported |
| 12 months ending | Cases closed | Median time |
|---|---|---|
| Sep 2025 | 468 | 9.5 months |
| Sep 2024 | 465 | 9.4 months |
| Sep 2023 | 555 | 10.1 months |
| Sep 2022 | 564 | 11.9 months |
| Sep 2021 | 517 | 9.8 months |
| Sep 2020 | 556 | 10.5 months |
| Sep 2019 | 727 | 11.2 months |
The table leaves out prisoner petitions, land condemnations, deportation reviews, recovery of overpayments and enforcement of judgments, and reports no median for fewer than 10 cases. A district that closed a large multidistrict litigation in the period shows very large counts and long medians for that year. Source: Table C-5, U.S. District Courts (spreadsheet).
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