Embry Jerode Kidd
How Judge Kidd rules, drawn from 23 signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
About Judge Kidd
Embry Jerode Kidd is a judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit. Appointed by President Joseph R. Biden, Judge Kidd received a commission on January 2, 2025.
Judge Kidd's practices and standing orders
The court's website lists no individual practices or standing orders of Judge Kidd's own (checked October 11, 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 11, 2026).
How Judge Kidd decides
Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
What persuades
In an FLSA pleading case, Kidd applied the stated elements: failure to pay required overtime or minimum wages to covered employees, or failure to keep required payroll records.
“the requirements to state a claim of a FLSA violation are quite straightforward. The elements that must be shown are simply a failure to pay overtime compensation and/or minimum wages to covered employees and/or failure to keep payroll records in accordance with the Act.”
In LifeStance, Kidd declined to examine an argument the party mentioned only briefly and did not develop in its brief.
“But LifeStance does not develop this argument after its brief mention, and therefore, the undersigned will not examine it further ... the court need not consider perfunctory and underdeveloped arguments and that such arguments are waived.”
In a venue-transfer dispute, Kidd applied the rule that a plaintiff’s choice of a forum other than its home receives only minimal deference.
“where a plaintiff has chosen a forum that is not its home forum, only minimal deference is required, and it is considerably easier to satisfy the burden of showing that other considerations make transfer proper.”
In the substituted Devengoechea opinion, the court required compliance with the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act and Rule 55 before entering a judgment that operates as a default against an absent foreign state. The opinion distinguished ordinary civil litigation.
“And before a district court can enter a default judgment against that foreign state, it must follow the procedural require- ments of Rule 55.”
In Barry, the court vacated a sentence because the district court equated conspiracy membership with jointly undertaken activity without making findings about the defendant’s own scope of participation.
“the scope of the defendant’s jointly undertaken activity is not necessarily the same as the scope of the entire conspiracy,”
In Zurich’s insurance appeal, he held that the insurer could waive a flood deductible through its conduct after making unconditional payments under a different coverage determination.
“we conclude that Zurich could waive the flood deductible.”
Procedural preferences
In Wilson, new facts presented with a prisoner’s objections required consideration as an amendment or a request for leave to amend. The court applied liberal construction to the pro se filing.
“In this case, we conclude that the district court had two op- tions when undertaking its review of Wilson’s R&R objections:”
In his separate Pine Hill concurrence, Judge Kidd agreed that the contractor could remove the case to federal court, but analyzed its federal relationship at the time of the challenged conduct. He declined to rely on current contracts to establish the first part of the removal test for allegations about past activity. This was his separate reasoning, not the panel’s holding.
“So, the relevant in- quiry is whether the company was a federal contractor at the time of the past activity.”
Signed rulings
A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.
“On balance, the undersigned finds that the factors discussed above favor transfer and outweigh the Plaintiff's choice of forum. Accordingly, I RESPECTFULLY RECOMMEND that the Defendants' Motions to Transfer (Docs. 36, 55) be GRANTED.”
“Upon consideration of the foregoing, I RESPECTFULLY RECOMMEND that the Court DENY Defendants' Motion to Dismiss Amended Complaint Pursuant to Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(b)(6) (Doc. 28).”
“We therefore find that the district court abused its discretion by entering judgment without ensuring that Devengoechea complied with Rule 55. ... We VACATE the district court's judgment and REMAND the case for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.”
“We therefore find no error in the district court's determination that Harbuck's conviction for assault with intent to kill qualifies as an ACCA predicate felony offense. ... We AFFIRM the district court's sentence and judgment.”
“The district court's judgment in favor of the Defendants is AFFIRMED.”
“That conclusion was erroneous, so we vacate Barry's sentence and remand the case to the district court for resentencing. ... We VACATE Barry's sentence and REMAND to the district court for resentencing in accordance with this opinion, as well as to correct the clerical error in Barry's judgment.”
“The district court’s judgment is AFFIRMED IN PART AND VACATED IN PART.”
“We AFFIRM the district court’s order denying the motion to compel arbitration.”
“We AFFIRM the district court’s order except that portion dismissing Plaintiffs’ claims against the TVA under the TVA Act”
“We AFFIRM the judgment of the district court.”
“we REVERSE the district court’s rulings as set forth above, we VACATE the district court’s judgment, and we REMAND”
Caseload & timing
From public federal docket records for this judge.
Caseload mix is descriptive, drawn from the docket sample; no case-disposition baseline is available for this court and period.
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