Walter King Stapleton

United States District Court for the District of Delaware district Retired 1985 · served 1970–1985 Appointed by Richard M. Nixon (Republican) 20 signed orders read

Judge Stapleton no longer hears cases. This profile is preserved as a historical record of how they ruled.

Signed rulings

A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.

Grigsby v. Crown Cork & Seal Co., Inc.
Summary judgment (defendant) Granted

“Crown’s motion for summary judgment on Grigsby’s Code claims will be granted.”

United Technologies Corp. v. Department of Health & Human Services
Agency review (plaintiff) Moot / procedural

“the appropriate course is to remand to the agency for an explanation which will permit meaningful judicial review.”

Osborn v. Pennsylvania-Delaware Service Station Dealers Ass'n
Motions to dismiss (defendant association) Denied

“the Association’s motion to dismiss the Amended Complaint is denied”

Class certification (plaintiff) Granted

“plaintiff’s request for bilateral class certification is granted.”

Wolfson v. Artisans Savings Bank
Motion to strike counterclaims (plaintiffs) Granted in part

“Thus, the second counterclaim must be dismissed.”

Colpo v. General Teamsters Local Union 326
Motion for injunction (Secretary of Labor) Granted

“In the absence of such an allegation, the entry of an injunction seems appropriate.”

United States v. Mearns
Motion to correct illegal sentence (defendant) Granted

“An Order will be entered correcting the defendant’s illegal sentence by deleting the requirement that he have a special parole term of three years.”

Taylor v. Wilmington Medical Center, Inc.
Summary judgment (defendants Yanez and Wilmington Medical Center) Granted

“Therefore, the summary judgment motions of defendants Yanez and Wilmington Medical Center with respect to plaintiffs’ individual claims are granted.”

Baltimore & Ohio Railroad v. Oberly
Motion to intervene (applicants Wilson) Denied

“Since the applicants have failed to demonstrate why that task will not be adequately performed by the state without their intervention, I will deny their motion.”

RCA Corp. v. Hazeltine Corp.
Motion for permanent injunction (RCA) Granted

“Since Hazeltine and Lear Siegler point to no competing equities sufficient to override the policy thus articulated, I will enter an appropriate injunction.”

Motion to join party (RCA) Denied

“For these reasons, RCA’s motion to join Esprit will be denied.”

Pagano v. Hadley
Motion to quash subpoena (Bishop Mardaga) Granted in part

“I can sustain the Bishop’s position only with respect to the narrow category of documents protected by Delaware Rule of Evidence 505.”

Delaware Department of Health & Social Services v. United States Department of Education
Summary judgment (plaintiff state agency) Granted

“The plaintiffs motion for summary judgment will be granted”

Summary judgment (intervenor-defendant Albanese) Denied

“the motion of intervenor-defendant Albanese will be denied.”

Gilbane Building Co. v. Nemours Foundation
Summary judgment (DiSabatino) Denied

“Accordingly, I will deny DiSabatino’s motion for partial summary judgment.”

Caseload & timing

From public federal docket records for this judge.

Median case duration in the sampled dockets: 42.5 days (N = 2).

The two located cases were filed and terminated in 1979 and 1983; neither carries a nature-of-suit label.

A historical record

Judge Stapleton 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.