Donald Marsh Middlebrooks
How Judge Middlebrooks rules, drawn from 36 signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
About Judge Middlebrooks
Donald M. Middlebrooks is a judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida. Appointed by President William J. Clinton, Judge Middlebrooks received a commission on May 27, 1997.
Judge Middlebrooks's practices and standing orders
The court's website lists no individual practices or standing orders of Judge Middlebrooks's own (checked October 8, 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 8, 2026).
How Judge Middlebrooks decides
Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
What persuades
In Henson v. Allison Transmission, Middlebrooks denied Fleetwood summary judgment on two Florida warranty-related counts because witnesses disputed whether vehicle defects had been repaired. He granted Fleetwood summary judgment on five other counts.
“On this point, there appears to be a legitimate factual dispute.”
Procedural preferences
In reviewing a discovery sanction fee award, treats the investigation and documentation needed to bring the sanctions motion as part of that work.
“Defendants' position ignores that bringing the said motion seeking sanctions for noncompliance with this Court's discovery orders involved more than simply putting ink on paper.”
In Edwards, Middlebrooks declined to consider the plaintiff’s arguments first raised in objections to a magistrate judge’s settlement-enforcement report.
“Plaintiffs objections improperly rest on arguments not presented to the Magistrate Judge and raised for the first time in objections to the Report. As such, I decline to consider these arguments.”
Cautions
After reopening a stayed personal injury case, treats repeated failures to attend conferences and answer show cause orders as grounds for striking pleadings and entering default.
“Since I reopened the case, Defendants have failed to appear at court-scheduled conferences and have continuously failed to respond to any of the Court’s orders to show cause.”
Signed rulings
A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.
“Plaintiffs Motion for Summary Judgment (DE 17) is DENIED.”
“Defendant's Motion for Summary Judgment (DE 19) is GRANTED.”
“Defendant Fleetwood's Motion for Summary Final Judgment (DE 62) is GRANTED in PART and DENIED in PART. Summary judgment is granted in favor of Defendant on Counts one, three, four, five, and six. Summary judgment is denied on Counts two and seven.”
In an appellate disposition rather than a trial-court ruling on a party motion, Middlebrooks adopted Magistrate Judge Ryon M. McCabe's unobjected R&R and affirmed the Bankruptcy Court's order granting the defendant's summary judgment and corresponding final judgment. Quote: 'The Bankruptcy Court's Order Granting Defendant's Motion for Summary Judgment and corresponding Final Judgment are AFFIRMED.'
“ORDERED AND ADJUDGED that Defendant's Motion to Dismiss (DE 3) is GRANTED. I also grant Plaintiff leave to amend, and any amended complaint must be filed within ten (10) days of the date of this Order.”
“ORDERED AND ADJUDGED that (1) Defendant's Motion to Dismiss (DE 110) is GRANTED; (2) Should Plaintiff seek to file an amended complaint, the amended complaint shall be filed on or before August 9, 2007, or Plaintiff's claims will be dismissed with prejudice”
“ORDERED AND ADJUDGED that Plaintiff's Motion to Dismiss Counterclaim and To Strike Fifth Affirmative Defense and Prayer for Attorneys' Fees (DE 11) is GRANTED. Defendants' Counterclaim is DISMISSED. Defendants' Fifth Affirmative Defense and Prayer for Attorneys' Fees are STRICKEN.”
“ORDERED AND ADJUDGED that Plaintiff's Motion for Partial Summary Judgment (DE 35) is DENIED.”
“ORDERED AND ADJUDGED that Defendants' Motion for Partial Summary Judgment (DE 34) is GRANTED IN PART and DENIED IN PART. Summary judgment is granted with respect to Count II of Plaintiff's Complaint in favor of Defendants. Summary judgment is denied with respect to Counts III and IV of Plaintiff's Complaint in favor of Plaintiff.”
“Magistrate Judge Reinhart's Report and Recommendation (DE 41) is ADOPTED. (2) Plaintiff's Motion to Remand (DE 9) is GRANTED. (3) Defendant's Motion to Dismiss or Transfer (DE 8) is DENIED WITHOUT PREJUDICE.”
“Petitioner's Objections to the Magistrate's Report (DE 12) are OVERRULED. (2) Magistrate Judge Otazo-Reyes's Report (DE 4) is hereby ADOPTED. (3) Petitioner's pro se Petition for Writ of Habeas Corpus pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2254 (DE 1) is DISMISSED.”
“Magistrate Judge Reid's Report (DE 16) is hereby ADOPTED. (2) Jose Edgardo Diaz's pro se petition for writ of habeas corpus pursuant to 28 U.S.C. §2254 (DE 1) is DENIED.”
“The Report (DE 14) is ADOPTED. (2) Movant's Objections (DE 15) are OVERRULED. (3) Petitioner Demarcus Antoine Mills' Petition under 28 U.S.C. §2254 for Writ of Habeas Corpus (DE 1) is DENIED. (4) A Certificate of Appealability is DENIED.”
“Magistrate Judge Reid's Report (DE 19) is hereby ADOPTED. (2) Jimmie Williams's pro se Amended Petition for writ of habeas corpus pursuant to 28 U.S.C. §2254 (DE 11) is DENIED.”
Caseload & timing
From public federal docket records for this judge.
Median case duration in the sampled dockets: 161 days (N = 6).
Median motion-to-ruling time: 6 days (N = 19).
The reviewed 2020-2023 matters include False Claims Act, Social Security, habeas, insurance, wage, contract, and bankruptcy-appeal cases, alongside criminal matters. This is descriptive context from selected cases, not a caseload-wide rate.
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 for the Southern District of Florida, not for Judge Middlebrooks: 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 | 8,196 | 3.4 months |
| Closed with no court action | 848 | 3 months |
| Closed before pretrial | 7,287 | 3.5 months |
| Closed during or after pretrial | 16 | 10.1 months |
| Closed during trial | 45 | 17.1 months |
| 12 months ending | Cases closed | Median time |
|---|---|---|
| Sep 2025 | 8,196 | 3.4 months |
| Sep 2024 | 7,755 | 3.6 months |
| Sep 2023 | 20,408 | 0 months |
| Sep 2022 | 8,287 | 3.7 months |
| Sep 2021 | 8,536 | 3.2 months |
| Sep 2020 | 8,657 | 3.4 months |
| Sep 2019 | 9,471 | 3.7 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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