Francis I. Yamashita
How Judge Yamashita rules, drawn from 17 signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
About Judge Yamashita
Francis I. Yamashita served as a United States magistrate judge in the District of Hawaii during the 1990s and into 2000. His published judicial work includes discovery orders, recommendations to district judges, and decisions in cases heard with the parties’ consent.
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 Yamashita decides
Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
What persuades
In the EEOC subpoena case against Med-National, Yamashita considered the subpoena’s relevance and procedural basis without deciding the underlying discrimination charge.
“Thus this Court can not consider whether Dr. Kajiwara’s discrimination claim is meritorious in making its decision whether or not to enforce the administrative subpoena.”
Cautions
In United States v. Marsh, Yamashita held that three documents were discoverable even though they might not be admissible at trial.
“Though not necessarily admissible, this Court finds that the three documents are discoverable.”
Signed rulings
A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.
“this Court issued an Order Denying Defendants’ Motion for Protective Order (‘underlying Order’).”
“Finding no basis for reconsideration, this Court denied Defendants’ Request for Reconsideration on June 30, 2000 (‘Reconsideration Order’).”
“In accordance with the foregoing, this Court GRANTS the EEOC’s Application for an Order Enforcing Administrative Subpoena.”
“For the foregoing reasons, this Court GRANTS Defendant’s motion for summary judgment.”
“Belgard’s motion for a temporary restraining order is DENIED.”
“the court AFFIRMS the rulings of the magistrate judge denying plaintiff’s motion to strike pleadings and to sanction counsel.”
“The court ADOPTS the report and recommendation of the magistrate judge with respect to its conclusion that summary judgment be granted in favor of defendants on plaintiff’s claims for damages against defendants for actions in their official and individual capacities.”
“The court DENIES plaintiff’s motion for preliminary injunction as moot.”
“the court DENIES plaintiffs appeal from magistrate’s order denying plaintiffs motion to defer.”
“The court DENIES plaintiffs appeal from the magistrate’s order granting defendant’s motion for protective order and denying plaintiffs motion to compel discovery.”
“Magistrate Judge Yamashita issued a Findings and Recommendation (‘the F & R’) granting Mitsui’s motion and denying the counter motions filed by USPB and INA.”
“recommended that this Court remand all state law claims against OHA and all claims against Ogata and Yee in their official capacities to state court.”
“On June 22,1998, Magistrate Judge Yama-shita issued an Order granting Plaintiffs motion to remand this case to state court. ... For the foregoing reasons, Magistrate Judge Yamashita’s June 22, 1998, Order is AFFIRMED.”
“On June 3, 1996, Magistrate Judge Yamashita denied Plaintiffs' Second Motion to Amend Complaint, which was filed on April 26, 1996.”
“on June 18, 1996, the magistrate again denied without prejudice Plaintiffs’ Motion to Amend Complaint.”
“Defendant’s motion to strike this final amended complaint was denied by Magistrate Judge Yamashita on October 10,1995.”
“Per the above, the Court REMANDS the Magistrate’s Findings and Recommendation.”
Caseload & timing
From public federal docket records for this judge.
At least 44 assigned civil cases were located across 1993–2000. The located files were all terminated and form a bounded historical cohort, not a career-wide caseload measure.
How long civil cases take in this court
For the whole of United States District Court for the District of Hawaii, not for Judge Yamashita: 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 | 570 | 4.9 months |
| Closed with no court action | 152 | 3.5 months |
| Closed before pretrial | 398 | 5.8 months |
| Closed during or after pretrial | 12 | 28.9 months |
| Closed during trial | 8 | not reported |
| 12 months ending | Cases closed | Median time |
|---|---|---|
| Sep 2025 | 570 | 4.9 months |
| Sep 2024 | 624 | 4.8 months |
| Sep 2023 | 502 | 6.5 months |
| Sep 2022 | 472 | 9.6 months |
| Sep 2021 | 496 | 9.4 months |
| Sep 2020 | 523 | 7.1 months |
| Sep 2019 | 511 | 9.1 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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