Charles A. Stampelos
How Judge Stampelos rules, drawn from 27 signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
About Judge Stampelos
Charles A. Stampelos joined the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Florida as a magistrate judge in April 2012 and served a full eight-year term. He continues to sit on recall in Tallahassee after a career in private civil litigation.
Judge Stampelos's practices and standing orders
The court's website lists no individual practices or standing orders of Judge Stampelos's own (checked October 9, 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 9, 2026).
How Judge Stampelos decides
Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
Procedural preferences
In Spaulding v. Bass, he recommended denying leave to file an eighth amended complaint after finding the proposed claims futile or untimely at that stage of the Section 1983 case.
“it is respectfully RECOMMENDED that Plaintiff's motion for leave to file an eighth amended complaint, doc. 209, be DENIED and this case be remanded for further proceedings.”
In Brown v. Florida, his report and recommendation gave the petitioner fourteen days to object and a final opportunity in that period to show good cause for the failure to respond.
“Petitioner shall have a 14 day period after service of this report and recommendation in which to file objections. This will also afford Petitioner a final opportunity to show good cause for this failure to respond.”
Signed rulings
A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.
“There is a genuine dispute of material fact on these issues and Defendant Sikes' motion for summary judgment should be denied.”
“In light of the dispute of material fact, Plaintiff's motion for summary judgment should be denied as well.”
“it is respectfully RECOMMENDED that Plaintiff's motion for leave to file an eighth amended complaint, doc. 209, be DENIED and this case be remanded for further proceedings.”
“It is respectfully RECOMMENDED that Plaintiff's motion for leave to file an amended complaint, ECF No. 40, be DENIED because the proposed fourth amended complaint, ECF No. 40-1, fails to state a claim upon which relief may be granted.”
“it is respectfully RECOMMENDED that all four of Defendants' recent motions, ECF Nos. 54-57, be DENIED and Plaintiff should be required to submit a proposed form of foreclosure judgment within 30 days.”
“it is respectfully RECOMMENDED that Plaintiff's complaint, doc. 1, be DISMISSED for failure to state a claim upon which relief may be granted pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1915(e)(2), because it is barred by res judicata, and the motion for declaratory judgment and injunctive relief, doc. 3, be DENIED.”
A Report and Recommendation on initial review of a pro se complaint seeking to undo state-court garnishment and foreclosure judgments. Judge Stampelos recommended sua sponte dismissal for lack of subject-matter jurisdiction under the Rooker-Feldman doctrine, which bars a federal district court from reviewing and rejecting state-court judgments, and alternatively as barred by res judicata because the plaintiff's claims against a state judge had twice been dismissed.
A short Report and Recommendation in a habeas matter where the petitioner failed to file an amended petition and in forma pauperis application after being ordered to do so. Judge Stampelos recommended sua sponte dismissal without prejudice under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 41(b) for failure to prosecute, while noting that the fourteen-day objection period would also give the petitioner a final opportunity to show good cause.
A short order accepting a pro se inmate's notice of voluntary dismissal under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 41(a)(1)(A)(i). Because no defendant had been served, the dismissal was effective without a court order and the case was closed as a procedural disposition.
“Based on the foregoing, it is respectfully RECOMMENDED that Respondent's motion to dismiss, ECF No. 12, be GRANTED, and Petitioner's § 2254 petition, ECF No. 1, be DISMISSED for lack of jurisdiction as it is an unauthorized successive petition.”
“Based on the foregoing, it is respectfully RECOMMENDED that Respondent's motion to dismiss, ECF No. 15, be GRANTED, and Petitioner's § 2254 petition, ECF No. 1, be DISMISSED for lack of jurisdiction as it is an unauthorized successive petition.”
“In light of Respondents' showing that Petitioner has been released from detention, it is respectfully RECOMMENDED that the motion to dismiss, ECF No. 7, be GRANTED, and the § 2241 petition be DISMISSED as moot since Petitioner has been granted the relief sought in the petition.”
“It is respectfully RECOMMENDED that Defendants' motion to dismiss, ECF No. 8, be GRANTED and Plaintiff's complaint, ECF No. 1, be DISMISSED for failure to state a claim upon which relief may be granted.”
Caseload & timing
From public federal docket records for this judge.
- Judge Stampelos's directly assigned and consent docket centers on Social Security disability appeals and magistrate criminal-duty matters, including warrant and pen-register applications, with occasional consent civil cases.
- Much of his other work consists of reports and recommendations in referred prisoner civil-rights, habeas, and in forma pauperis matters, which are not reflected in the case-assignment mix.
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 United States District Court for the Northern District of Florida, not for Judge Stampelos: 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 | 148,428 | 47.7 months |
| Closed with no court action | 30 | 3 months |
| Closed before pretrial | 148,385 | 47.7 months |
| Closed during or after pretrial | 4 | not reported |
| Closed during trial | 9 | not reported |
| 12 months ending | Cases closed | Median time |
|---|---|---|
| Sep 2025 | 148,428 | 47.7 months |
| Sep 2024 | 140,479 | 43.4 months |
| Sep 2023 | 36,307 | 27.8 months |
| Sep 2022 | 57,845 | 21.8 months |
| Sep 2021 | 14,972 | 5.3 months |
| Sep 2020 | 6,038 | 6.7 months |
| Sep 2019 | 1,148 | 7.5 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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