Elizabeth Anne Kovachevich
How Judge Kovachevich rules, drawn from 16 signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
About Judge Kovachevich
Elizabeth Anne Kovachevich is a judge of the United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida. Appointed by President Ronald Reagan, Judge Kovachevich received a commission on March 9, 1982. Judge Kovachevich assumed senior status on December 14, 2018.
Judge Kovachevich's practices and standing orders
Rules for cases before Judge Kovachevich, 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.
Key rules
Filing
Send her office copies of motions, responses, or other filings over 25 pages including attachments.
“Judge Kovachevich issues a standing order in civil cases. This order requires that a party provide copies to her office of all motions, responses or other filings that exceed 25 pages, including exhibits or attachments.”
Conferences
For jury trials, bring proposed jury instructions, verdict forms, and trial briefs to the preliminary pretrial conference.
“She requires the parties in a jury trial to bring their proposed jury instructions, jury verdict forms, and trial briefs to the pretrial conference for the magistrate judge to review.”
Trial
File the original and three copies of exhibit and witness lists with the courtroom deputy before jury selection on the morning of trial.
“Exhibit lists and witness lists (an original and three copies) must be filed with the courtroom deputy on the morning of trial, before jury selection.”
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 10, 2026).
How Judge Kovachevich decides
Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
What persuades
Where an insurance policy term can bear more than one ordinary meaning, the court treats it as ambiguous and construes it against the insurer that drafted it.
“Since a reasonable person could understand the term 'land' to refer to areas located above or below ground—or both—the term is ambiguous. Since all ambiguities must be construed against the insurer, the Court is bound to construe the term 'land' to include the soil, ground, and natural, resources below the earth's surface.”
Cautions
In McKenzie-Wharton v. United Airlines, the plaintiffs learned from United’s November 2014 answer that it disputed a proposed defendant’s employment status, yet waited until after removal to seek to add her. Kovachevich found that delay weighed against joinder and denied leave to amend and remand.
“The appropriate time to add the additional defendant was after United’s Answer of November 7, 2014, not now after the case has already been removed to federal court and the addition of the defendant would destroy diversity.”
Signed rulings
A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.
“ORDERED that Walgreen's Motion to Strike Plaintiffs Motion (Doc. 49) is DENIED, and Walgreen's Motion for Summary Judgment (Doc. 44) 'is GRANTED.”
“ORDERED that Convergent's Motion to Dismiss is GRANTED AS TO Count II, which is dismissed, and the remainder of the Motion is DENIED. The Defendant has ten (10) days from this date to answer the Complaint.”
“ORDERED that Defendant's Motion to Dismiss (Dkt. 5) for lack of subject matter jurisdiction is granted. Plaintiffs Complaint is dismissed without prejudice, and without leave to amend.”
“ORDERED that the Motion to Dismiss is GRANTED IN PART AND DENIED IN PART. Any second amended complaint must be filed within 14 days from entry of this order.”
“It is further ORDERED that the Motions to Strike are GRANTED IN PART AND DENIED IN PART, and the parties are directed to meet and confer within seven (7) days regarding-the future use of Dr. Funderburk's opinions.”
“It is further ORDERED that the Motion for Judicial Notice is GRANTED IN PART AND DENIED IN PART as set forth herein.”
“ORDERED that State Farm's Motion to Dismiss be GRANTED as to Counts I and II of the Amended Complaint, and those counts are DISMISSED with PREJUDICE. The Motion to Dismiss is DENIED as to Counts III and IV.”
“State Farm's Alternative Motion to Strike is also DENIED. The Defendant shall file an answer to the remaining counts of the Amended Complaint within ten (10) days of this date.”
“For the reasons set forth below, Defendants' Motion for Summary Judgment (Doc. 149) is DENIED and Plaintiffs Motion for Summary Judgment (Doc. 145) is GRANTED IN PART, with respect to Defendants' Seventh, Eighth, Eleventh, Twelfth, Fourteenth, Fifteenth, Sixteenth, Seventeenth, Eighteenth, Nineteenth, and Twenty-First Defenses, and DENIED IN PART as to all other defenses and to Count One.”
“ORDERED that the Summary Judgment Motion is DENIED, and the Motions to Strike are DENIED AS MOOT.”
“ORDERED that Plaintiffs' Motion to for Leave to Amend Complaint and For Remand is DENIED.”
“summary judgment for the Plaintiffs, ... is GRANTED.”
“As to notice issues, the Court has sustained Plaintiffs Objections to the Report and Recommendation. The Court denies the Motion to Dissolve (Dkt. 255) as to the USAmeribank Writ.”
“ORDERED that Plaintiffs' Complaint is DISMISSED with PREJUDICE. The Clerk of Court is directed to close this case and terminate any pending motions.”
“ORDERED that the Motion for Reconsideration is GRANTED. The Clerk of Court is directed to VACATE the Dismissal Order, and to STAY this case pending resolution of the appeal.”
“ORDERED Plaintiffs Motion for Summary Judgment is GRANTED.”
Caseload & timing
From public federal docket records for this judge.
Median case duration in the sampled dockets: 358 days (N = 11).
Median motion-to-ruling time: 17 days (N = 7).
The sampled matters are Tampa Division civil cases filed in 2014 and 2015, spanning employment, insurance, civil rights, and wage claims. They describe only the sampled cases and are not a measure of the judge's overall docket.
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 | 0 |
| Report | Motions over six months | Cases over three years |
|---|---|---|
| Mar 2026 | 0 | 0 |
| Sep 2025 | 0 | 0 |
| Mar 2025 | 0 | 0 |
| Sep 2024 | 0 | 0 |
| Mar 2024 | 0 | 0 |
| Sep 2023 | 0 | 0 |
| Mar 2023 | 0 | 0 |
| Sep 2022 | 0 | 0 |
| Mar 2022 | 0 | 0 |
| Sep 2021 | 0 | 0 |
| Mar 2021 | 0 | 0 |
| Sep 2020 | 0 | 0 |
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 U.S. District Court, Middle District of Florida, not for Judge Kovachevich: 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 | 6,896 | 5.5 months |
| Closed with no court action | 49 | 3.5 months |
| Closed before pretrial | 6,492 | 5.2 months |
| Closed during or after pretrial | 319 | 14.7 months |
| Closed during trial | 36 | 24.2 months |
| 12 months ending | Cases closed | Median time |
|---|---|---|
| Sep 2025 | 6,896 | 5.5 months |
| Sep 2024 | 7,115 | 5.6 months |
| Sep 2023 | 6,777 | 5.5 months |
| Sep 2022 | 6,781 | 6.7 months |
| Sep 2021 | 6,749 | 6.2 months |
| Sep 2020 | 6,392 | 6.2 months |
| Sep 2019 | 6,830 | 5.7 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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Ezel grounds your drafting and research in this profile: what has persuaded Judge Kovachevich, and what has not, cited to the signed orders.
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