Richard W. Story
How Judge Story rules, drawn from 17 signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
About Judge Story
Richard W. Story is a judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia. Appointed by President William J. Clinton, Judge Story received a commission on February 4, 1998. Judge Story assumed senior status on December 1, 2018.
Judge Story's practices and standing orders
Rules for cases before Judge Story, as published on the court's website (checked October 9, 2026). Judges revise these often, so confirm the current version on the court's site before you file.
- Standing Order Re Civil Litigation ↗
- Civil Qualifying Jury Questions ↗
- Civil Juror Questionnaire ↗
- Criminal Qualifying Jury Questions ↗
- Criminal Juror Questionnaire ↗
- Background Jury Questions ↗
Key rules
Filing
Provide courtesy copies for emergency, temporary restraining order, and preliminary injunction motions.
“Courtesy copies are not required, except for emergency motions filed pursuant to Local Rule 7.2(B), and motions for temporary restraining orders and/or preliminary injunctions.”
Motions
Seek temporary restraining orders or preliminary injunctions by separate motion.
“Any request for a temporary restraining order or for preliminary injunctive relief must be made by separate motion.”
Discovery
Confer orally and in good faith before filing a discovery motion.
“Prior to filing a discovery motion, the parties are REQUIRED to confer in good faith in an effort to resolve the dispute. The duty to confer requires oral communication between the attorneys.”
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 Story decides
Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
What persuades
In Cook v. Encompass Insurance Company of America, Story denied the insurer’s summary judgment motion because the parties disputed whether the insurer’s claims analyst had agreed to settle.
“There is therefore a genuine dispute of material fact such that summary judgment cannot be granted as to this claim.”
In Rossi v. Fulton County Board of Assessors, Story ruled on the defendant's summary-judgment motion claim by claim after reviewing magistrate recommendations. He denied judgment on Rossi's ADA and FMLA retaliation claims and granted it on her remaining claims.
“Defendant’s Motion for Summary Judgment as to Plaintiff Leann Rossi [158] is DENIED as to claims under the ADA and the retaliation claims under the FMLA and GRANTED as to all of the remaining claims asserted by Plaintiff Rossi.”
Procedural preferences
In Messer’s criminal case, he adopted the magistrate judge’s recommendation after reviewing the suppression objections and denied the motion to suppress.
“Judge Fuller's R&R [Dkt. 31] is accepted with approval and ADOPTED for all purposes. It is ORDERED that Defendant's Motion to Suppress [Dkt. 14] is DENIED.”
Cautions
In FuQua v. Massey, Story construed a pro se filing as a motion for his recusal and denied that motion.
“Plaintiff's construed Motion for Recusal [21] is DENIED.”
In a wrongful-foreclosure suit, he granted the dismissal motions, dismissing the standing-to-foreclose claims with prejudice and other claims without prejudice.
“Defendants' Motions to Dismiss Plaintiffs' Complaint [4 and 7] are GRANTED such that all claims with respect to Defendant J.P. Morgan Chase Bank, N.A. are DISMISSED WITH PREJUDICE, all claims against McCalla Raymer, LLC and Wells Fargo Bank, National Association premised on Wells Fargo's alleged lack of standing to foreclose are DISMISSED WITH PREJUDICE, and to the extent Plaintiffs have attempted to allege any claims ... under any other theory, those claims are DISMISSED WITHOUT PREJUDICE”
In Smith, he rejected a cross-motion filed after the agreed deadline because the plaintiff did not show excusable neglect, and he enforced the standard 25-page limit while allowing a compliant opposition brief.
“Plaintiff will not be granted leave to file a brief longer than the standard 25-page limit.”
Signed rulings
A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.
“Defendants' Motions to Dismiss [Doc. Nos. 22, 23, and 24] are GRANTED in part and DENIED in part. Defendants' Motions to Dismiss Counts I, II, VI, VII, IX, X, XI, XIII, XIV, XV, XVI, and XVII are GRANTED as to Plaintiff's direct action claims. Defendants' Motions to Dismiss the fraud claims are DENIED.”
“Defendant's Motion to Dismiss [Doc. No. 34] is GRANTED. The derivative claims brought in Counts I, II, VI, VII, IX, X, XI, XIII, XIV, XV, XVI, and XVII are DISMISSED.”
“the Motion for Summary Judgment of Encompass Insurance Company of America [17] is DENIED.”
“Defendants' Motion to Dismiss [11] is GRANTED, and Plaintiff's Verified Petition for Permanent Injunction and Temporary Restraining Order [2], Motion to Strike [15], Construed Motion for Recusal [21], and Request for Entry of Default [25] are DENIED.”
“Plaintiff's construed Motion for Recusal [21] is DENIED.”
“Judge Fuller's R&R [Dkt. 31] is accepted with approval and ADOPTED for all purposes. It is ORDERED that Defendant's Motion to Suppress [Dkt. 14] is DENIED.”
“Defendant Felcor's Motion for Leave to File Affidavit [23] and Motion for Summary Judgment [17] are GRANTED.”
“Defendants' Motions to Dismiss Plaintiffs' Complaint [4 and 7] are GRANTED such that all claims with respect to Defendant J.P. Morgan Chase Bank, N.A. are DISMISSED WITH PREJUDICE, all claims against McCalla Raymer, LLC and Wells Fargo Bank, National Association premised on Wells Fargo's alleged lack of standing to foreclose are DISMISSED WITH PREJUDICE, and to the extent Plaintiffs have attempted to allege any claims ... under any other theory, those claims are DISMISSED WITHOUT PREJUDICE”
“Plaintiffs' Motion for Recusal and Disqualification of Judge [27] is DENIED.”
“Plaintiffs' Motion for Summary Judgment [19] is DENIED.”
“Suppress [Dkts. 18, 38; 19, 36; 20, 25, 35; 21, 39; 22, 37] are DENIED.”
“Plaintiff Cheryl Smalls [160] is GRANTED as to all claims asserted by Plaintiff Smalls;”
“Defendant’s Motion for Summary Judgment as to Plaintiff Theresa McGruder [161] is DENIED as to the disparate-treatment claim arising from Plaintiff’s termination and GRANTED as to all of the remaining claims asserted by Plaintiff McGruder;”
“Defendant’s Motion for Summary Judgment as to Plaintiff Ansley Pascoli [163] is GRANTED as to all claims asserted by Plaintiff Pascoli;”
“Defendant’s Motion for Summary Judgment as to Plaintiff Debra Poole [162] is DENIED as to the disparate-treatment claims under Title VII and the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (‘ADEA’) that arise from Plaintiff’s termination and the claim of interference under the Family and Medical Leave Act (‘FMLA’) and GRANTED as to all of the remaining claims asserted by Plaintiff Poole;”
“Defendant’s Motion for Summary Judgment as to Plaintiff Leann Rossi [158] is DENIED as to claims under the ADA and the retaliation claims under the FMLA and GRANTED as to all of the remaining claims asserted by Plaintiff Rossi;”
“Defendant’s Motion for Summary Judgment as to Plaintiff Rebecca Canada [159] is DENIED as to the failure-to-accommodate claims under the ADA and the claims under the FMLA and GRANTED as to all of the remaining claims asserted by Plaintiff Canada.”
“the summary judgment motions filed by Defendants Michael McMunn and Ann Evans [64] and Defendants Greg Newman and Fannin County, Georgia [73] are GRANTED; Plaintiff’s Motions for Summary Judgment [68], for Discovery and Document Production [76], for Appointment of Counsel [77], and to Summon Witnesses [78] are DENIED; and this action is DISMISSED.”
“are hereby DENIED.”
“Defendant’s Motion for Summary Judgment [12] is hereby GRANTED.”
“Defendant’s Motion to Dismiss [7] is hereby GRANTED.”
“Defendant’s Motion to Stay Discovery and Pretrial Deadlines [8] is DENIED AS MOOT.”
Caseload & timing
From public federal docket records for this judge.
Median case duration in the sampled dockets: 423 days (N = 11).
- General civil docket (Gainesville/Atlanta divisions) plus a criminal caseload: civil rights, employment/age discrimination, consumer credit (FCRA), Social Security, insurance/subrogation, corporate/derivative, qui tam, and felon-in-possession criminal. His current (2026) direct docket is dominated by Gainesville-division SSA and general-civil filings, with Anna W.
- Howard as the referral magistrate.
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 | 2 |
| 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 | 2 | 0 |
| Sep 2025 | 2 | 1 |
| Mar 2025 | 1 | 15 |
| Sep 2024 | 0 | 24 |
| Mar 2024 | 2 | 75 |
| Sep 2023 | 1 | 201 |
| Mar 2023 | 0 | 997 |
| Sep 2022 | 0 | 2,376 |
| Mar 2022 | 0 | 1,850 |
| Sep 2021 | 0 | 1,404 |
| Mar 2021 | 4 | 632 |
| Sep 2020 | 0 | 133 |
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 Northern District of Georgia (Gainesville Division), not for Judge Story: 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 | 6,703 | 4 months |
| Closed with no court action | 640 | 3 months |
| Closed before pretrial | 4,138 | 1.6 months |
| Closed during or after pretrial | 1,901 | 11.6 months |
| Closed during trial | 24 | 31.4 months |
| 12 months ending | Cases closed | Median time |
|---|---|---|
| Sep 2025 | 6,703 | 4 months |
| Sep 2024 | 6,190 | 5.3 months |
| Sep 2023 | 8,614 | 13.7 months |
| Sep 2022 | 5,403 | 5.1 months |
| Sep 2021 | 4,908 | 6 months |
| Sep 2020 | 4,463 | 5.7 months |
| Sep 2019 | 4,954 | 6.2 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).
Draft for Judge Story with the record in hand
Ezel grounds your drafting and research in this profile: what has persuaded Judge Story, and what has not, cited to the signed orders.
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