Paul V. Niemeyer
How Judge Niemeyer rules, drawn from 77 signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
About Judge Niemeyer
Paul Victor Niemeyer is a judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. Appointed by President George H.W. Bush, Judge Niemeyer received a commission on August 7, 1990. Judge Niemeyer previously served on the United States District Court for the District of Maryland, commissioned there on February 22, 1988.
Judge Niemeyer's practices and standing orders
The court's website lists no individual practices or standing orders of Judge Niemeyer'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 Niemeyer decides
Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
What persuades
In an insurance coverage dispute over a Surry County emergency response, he read the policies' coverage provisions as limited to operations directed, performed, or supervised by Emergency Services.
“both coverage provisions are most naturally read to cover operations that are directed, performed, or supervised by Emergency Services, and not by some other department of the Surry County government, such as its 911 Call Center.”
In Robinson's sentencing appeal, he held that an earlier decision on assault by strangulation remained binding because its holding rested on the offense's elements, not on supplementary prosecution examples.
“that analysis in Rice was only added to the opinion to provide additional confirmation for our holding, which was based on an interpretation of the offense’s elements and what the government had to prove in terms of mens rea to establish those elements. The Rice holding thus remains valid.”
In Hayat, Niemeyer upheld officers’ entry into a home during an investigation of a reported child kidnapping. The majority relied on an eyewitness account, corroboration, the suspect’s attempted retreat, and concern for the children to find exigency sufficient to complete the investigative stop and check on them.
“Thus, the reasonable suspicion and the nature of the crime created circumstances that justified the officers’ completion of their Terry stop in Hayat’s house and checking on the children.”
Procedural preferences
In Guzman's wage suit, he held that the district court could not dismiss the complaint solely because she did not respond to a Rule 12(b)(6) motion.
“This textual formulation does not admit of granting a motion to dismiss on the basis that a party failed to respond to it — i.e., the Rule does not provide for default relief for a failure to respond.”
In Milam's guilty-plea appeal, he held that the government's scanning error was not material to the plea decision and affirmed the denial of withdrawal.
“we conclude that Milam has not shown that the government’s scanning error was material to his decision to plead guilty.”
In Vick, Niemeyer applied a presumption of reasonableness to a within-Guidelines sentence after finding that the district court had addressed the sentencing factors and the defendant’s arguments.
“Vick failed to clear the high hurdle of rebutting the presumption of reasonableness that applies to his within-Guidelines sentence.”
In Parrish, Niemeyer applied Heck’s delayed-accrual principle to the prisoner’s FTCA claims after both parties agreed it governed. The complaint was timely because the disciplinary charge was not expunged until 2017; the panel left administrative exhaustion for remand and did not resolve the broader reading of the statute’s two deadlines or the mailbox rule.
“It thus appears clear to us that Heck’s accrual principle applies to at least some of Parrish’s tort claims.”
Cautions
In a West Virginia oil and gas dispute, he held that the district court should have exercised its jurisdiction over federal defenses instead of abstaining without an unclear, potentially dispositive state-law question.
“The generally applicable rule is that a federal court, whose jurisdiction has been invoked, must exercise that jurisdiction and address the matter before it.”
In Sturtz's sentencing appeal, he enforced the plea agreement's express waiver of an appeal over the prior conviction's qualification and the resulting Guidelines range.
“he had expressly waived the right to appeal both the district court’s specific ruling on the qualification of his prior Maryland conviction and its determination of his sentencing guidelines range.”
In Kuiper, Niemeyer rejected conduct-based foreign-official immunity at the motion-to-dismiss stage for alleged orders to kill Dutch journalists during El Salvador’s civil war. Under controlling circuit precedent, the alleged extrajudicial killing would violate a jus cogens norm if proved.
“But, as we noted in Yousuf, the immunity does not protect foreign officials accused of a violation of jus cogens norms”
In Jackson’s five consolidated appeals, Niemeyer accepted that protecting officials’ safety was a compelling interest but held that the challenged disclosure restriction reached more broadly than needed. The court affirmed dismissal of the claims under the First Amendment.
“it did not employ the least restrictive means of doing so.”
Signed rulings
A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.
“The district court denied Powell’s § 2255 motion, and we affirm.”
“On North Carolina’s appeal, we affirm, concluding that the district court did not clearly err in its factual finding that the Yadkin River was not navigable at statehood and did not err in concluding, as a matter of law, that Alcoa has good title to the riverbed.”
“Affirmed by published opinion. Judge Niemeyer wrote the opinion, in which Judge King and Judge Agee joined.”
“We conclude, however, that the government provided the district court with sufficient evidence to support a finding that Mondragon possessed a firearm in connection with his drug- distribution activities, and accordingly we affirm.”
“we grant the President’s petition for a writ of mandamus and, taking jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1292(b), hold that the District and Maryland do not have Article III standing to pursue their claims against the President. Accordingly, we reverse the district court’s orders denying the President’s motion to dismiss”
“Because our holding in Mungro has not been superseded, we affirm.”
“At bottom, we hold that qualified immunity may not be invoked as a defense to liability under the FCA. ... For the foregoing reasons, we vacate the district court’s ruling deferring for further factual development the immunity issue and remand with the instruction that the district court deny Gianato and Given’s motion to dismiss on the basis of qualified immunity.”
“For the reasons that follow, we affirm.”
“Such circumstances, Pringle holds, are sufficient to support particularized probable cause that the two were committing a crime. We thus confirm the legality of Myers’s arrest.”
“On appeal, we vacate and remand, concluding that the plaintiffs’ antitrust claims did not accrue until the plaintiffs were injured by paying supracompetitive prices for Tracleer after the patent expired in November 2015.”
“Affirmed by published opinion. Judge Niemeyer wrote the opinion, in which Judge Diaz and Judge Quattlebaum joined.”
“we hold that the elements of both VICAR assault and VICAR murder in this case include a mens rea more culpable than mere recklessness and that the mens rea of both VICAR crimes satisfies the mens rea element of a ‘crime of violence’ in § 924(c). Accordingly, we affirm the district court’s judgment reaching the same result but for different reasons.”
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