David G. Campbell
How Judge Campbell rules, drawn from 26 signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
About Judge Campbell
David G. Campbell is a judge of the United States District Court for the District of Arizona. Appointed by President George W. Bush, Judge Campbell received a commission on July 15, 2003. Judge Campbell assumed senior status on July 31, 2018.
Judge Campbell's practices and standing orders
Rules for cases before Judge Campbell, as published on the court's website (checked October 8, 2026). Judges revise these often, so confirm the current version on the court's site before you file.
- Case Management Order ↗
- Case Management Order (post-MIDP) ↗
- Case Management Order for ERISA Cases ↗
- Courtroom Protocol ↗
- Criminal Order of Referral ↗
- Electronic/Video Courtroom Instructions ↗
- Guidelines for Jury Instructions in Civil Cases ↗
- Joint Proposed Final Pretrial Order ↗
- Order Setting Final Pretrial Conference ↗
- Order Setting Final Pretrial Conference (Criminal) ↗
- Order Setting Rule 16 Case Management Conference ↗
- Trial Conduct and Decorum ↗
Key rules
Motions
A Rule 56.1 statement of facts may be no longer than ten pages, excluding exhibits.
“Statements of fact required by Local Rule of Civil Procedure 56.1 shall not exceed ten pages in length, exclusive of exhibits.”
Discovery
Call the court promptly for a telephone conference over a discovery dispute; do not file a written discovery motion without leave.
“If a discovery dispute arises, the parties promptly shall call the Court to request a telephone conference concerning the dispute.”
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 8, 2026).
How Judge Campbell decides
Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
What persuades
Grants leave to proceed under a pseudonym under the Ninth Circuit's Advanced Textile balancing test, with conditions that the real name be usable in discovery and at trial but omitted from public filings.
“IT IS ORDERED that Plaintiff's motion for permission to proceed under pseudonym (Doc. 2) is granted with the conditions identified above.”
In TruWest, Campbell denied the insurer’s dismissal motion because it had not shown that the complaint itself foreclosed coverage and the insured did not have to plead around policy exclusions.
“Defendant cites no legal authority 3 suggesting that Plaintiff must plead around exclusions or other policy defenses”
Procedural preferences
On a partial motion to dismiss, dismisses only the claim with an incurable jurisdictional/exhaustion defect (denying leave to amend) while sustaining claims that are adequately pleaded.
“IT IS ORDERED that Defendant's motion to dismiss (Doc. 11) is granted with respect to Plaintiff's retaliation claim, and otherwise denied.”
In an expert-exclusion order, Campbell declined to consider an AI-use challenge first raised in a reply brief; he also found that suspicion of fabricated citations in the expert’s general report did not justify exclusion without an identified false citation.
“Mere suspicion is not enough to exclude El-Ghannam’s opinions.”
In a late amendment request, applied Rule 16’s good-cause standard and denied leave where the proposed claims could have been pleaded before the scheduling deadline.
“and therefore has not shown good cause under Rule 16(b)(4).”
In one expert-exclusion ruling, the court excluded a fracture-causation opinion because the expert did not address other plausible causes before settling on his explanation.
“Reichle failed to address pinch off, repetitive bending, and degradation as possible causes of Plaintiff’s fracture.”
In the Hicks expert dispute, Campbell allowed a physician’s differential-etiology causation opinion despite factual disputes, while excluding his materials, design, corporate-knowledge, and ethics opinions.
“these and other factual disputes do not eliminate the sufficient facts and data that underlie 2 Wu’s differential etiology, and that differential etiology is a reliable method for 3 determining medical cause.”
In MindSight Medical, Campbell denied default judgment because the plaintiff had not established every LLC member’s citizenship, and allowed a renewed motion with a complete diversity showing.
“The Court cannot conclude diversity jurisdiction exists and summarily denies Plaintiff’s motion for default judgment. Plaintiff may re-file its motion for default judgment and include a showing of diversity jurisdiction.”
Cautions
Grants a defendant debt collector's partial summary judgment across FDCPA theories, applying the least-sophisticated-debtor standard.
“Defendants' motion for partial summary judgment (Doc. 15) is granted.”
In Fineline, Campbell entered default judgment on supported compensatory damages but denied punitive damages because the plaintiff offered only complaint allegations rather than independent proof.
“relies entirely on the allegations of the complaint and has not presented the requisite clear 25 and convincing evidence to support an award of punitive damages.”
Signed rulings
A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.
“Defendants' motion for partial summary judgment (Doc. 15) is granted.”
“Plaintiff's motion to supplement (Doc. 27) is denied.”
“IT IS ORDERED that Defendant’s motion to dismiss (Doc. 11) is granted with respect to Plaintiff’s retaliation claim, and otherwise denied.”
“IT IS ORDERED that Plaintiff's motion for permission to proceed under pseudonym (Doc. 2) is granted with the conditions identified above.”
“Defendants' motion to dismiss (Doc. 21) is granted. Plaintiff's untimely Title VII discrimination claims are dismissed, as are his ADA and RFRA claims. The timely Title VII claims against ABOR remain.”
“IT IS ORDERED that Defendant's motion to dismiss count two of the first amended complaint (Doc. 20) is denied.”
“The motions to dismiss filed by Defendants Stephanie Stromfors, Diana Vigil, Julie Verner, and Randy Rand (Docs. 71, 72, 73, 81) are granted.”
“IT IS ORDERED that Plaintiff's motion for reconsideration (Doc. 30) is denied.”
“Plaintiff's motion for summary judgment (Doc. 70) is denied.”
“Defendant ABOR's motion for summary judgment (Doc. 74) is denied.”
“El-Ghannam (Doc. 5202) is granted in part and denied in part.”
“Defendants’ partial motion to dismiss (Doc. 14) is granted in part and denied in part. The motion is granted with respect to the defamation, false light invasion of privacy, and § 1938 claims. The motion is denied in all other respects.”
“IT IS ORDERED that Defendants’ motion for summary judgment (Doc. 5815) is denied.”
“(Doc. 67) is denied, and Defendant’s motion to dismiss (Doc. 45) is denied.”
Pending matters in the official report
Reported by the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts under the Civil Justice Reform Act, as of March 31, 2026.
| Motions pending more than six months | 0 |
| Bench trials submitted more than six months | 0 |
| Bankruptcy appeals pending more than six months | 0 |
| Social Security appeals pending more than six months | 0 |
| Civil cases pending more than three years | 2 |
| Report | Motions over six months | Cases over three years |
|---|---|---|
| Mar 2026 | 0 | 2 |
| Sep 2025 | 0 | 2 |
| Mar 2025 | 0 | 2 |
| Sep 2024 | 0 | 2 |
| Mar 2024 | 0 | 2 |
| Sep 2023 | 0 | 5 |
| Mar 2023 | 0 | 5 |
| Sep 2022 | 0 | 4 |
| Mar 2022 | 0 | 5 |
| Sep 2021 | 1 | 6 |
| Mar 2021 | 0 | 208 |
| Sep 2020 | 0 | 671 |
A snapshot on that date: matters listed may since have been decided or reassigned. A motion referred to a magistrate judge is counted for both judges. Motions in multidistrict litigation, section 2255 cases and Social Security appeals are not counted, and a very large three-year count is generally a multidistrict docket. Source: Appendix A of the report (PDF); about the report.
How long civil cases take in this court
For the whole of United States District Court for the District of Arizona, not for Judge Campbell: 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 | 2,485 | 6 months |
| Closed with no court action | 135 | 2.2 months |
| Closed before pretrial | 2,001 | 5.2 months |
| Closed during or after pretrial | 335 | 15.2 months |
| Closed during trial | 14 | 32.4 months |
| 12 months ending | Cases closed | Median time |
|---|---|---|
| Sep 2025 | 2,485 | 6 months |
| Sep 2024 | 2,278 | 6.7 months |
| Sep 2023 | 2,126 | 8.3 months |
| Sep 2022 | 2,181 | 9.4 months |
| Sep 2021 | 3,857 | 20.9 months |
| Sep 2020 | 8,128 | 12.2 months |
| Sep 2019 | 2,842 | 9.6 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).
Draft for Judge Campbell with the record in hand
Ezel grounds your drafting and research in this profile: what has persuaded Judge Campbell, and what has not, cited to the signed orders.
Opens in Ezel Pro.
- Grounded in Judge Campbell's own signed orders
- Cites every source it relies on, so you can verify it
- Chat, drafting and research in one workspace