Thomas J. Shields
How Judge Shields rules, drawn from 2 signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
About Judge Shields
Thomas J. Shields served as a United States Magistrate Judge for the Southern District of Iowa from 2000 until his retirement on February 12, 2014. He earned degrees from the College of William & Mary and Indiana University.
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 Shields decides
Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
Procedural preferences
In Limon v. Azteca Mexican Restaurant, Shields granted two unopposed motions to amend under Local Rule 7(f) and later granted conditional FLSA certification. After a reported settlement, he set a status hearing when closing documents were late, then canceled it after counsel reported the settlement complete.
“ORDER granting 20 Plaintiffs' Motion for Conditional Certification and Notice to Class Members. Signed by Magistrate Judge Thomas J. Shields on 4/5/2011.”
In Heiss’s employment case, Shields denied the defendants’ summary-judgment motion in his consent caseload and set the case for trial.
“MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER ON DEFENDANTS' MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT denying 16 Defendants' Motion for Summary Judgment; denying as moot 24 Plaintiff's Application for Leave to File Supplemental Appendix and Supplemental Statement of Facts Under Seal. Signed by Magistrate Judge Thomas J. Shields on 1/18/2012.”
Cautions
In IBEW Local 13 Retirement Fund v. Vogel Electric, Shields denied two defense motions for a protective order after a hearing and treated a related late-filing motion as moot. A separate protective order was entered the same day.
“ORDER denying 37 Defendants' Motion for Protective Order; denying 42 Supplemental Motion for Protective Order; terminating as moot 36 Motion to Allow Late Filing of Defendants' Motion for Protective Order. Signed by Magistrate Judge Thomas J. Shields on 2/4/2013.”
Signed rulings
A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.
“MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER affirming the decision of the ALJ. Signed by Magistrate Judge Thomas J Shields (R) on 07/27/15.”
“ORDER granting 20 Plaintiffs' Motion for Conditional Certification and Notice to Class Members. Signed by Magistrate Judge Thomas J. Shields on 4/5/2011.”
Caseload & timing
From public federal docket records for this judge.
Median case duration in the sampled dockets: 426 days (N = 8).
Median motion-to-ruling time: 188 days (N = 2).
- The reviewed docket, covering filings from 2004 through 2014, is weighted toward consent civil cases involving employment and civil rights, wage-and-hour collective actions, employee benefits, consumer credit, and Social Security appeals.
- It also includes petty-offense and misdemeanor matters.
- Some cases reflect Judge Shields's referral role rather than service as the presiding judge, so the mix is descriptive rather than a census.
Pending matters in the official report
Judge Shields was last listed in the Civil Justice Reform Act report as of September 30, 2022.
| 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 |
|---|---|---|
| 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 Southern District of Iowa, not for Judge Shields: 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 | 395 | 8 months |
| Closed with no court action | 161 | 9.1 months |
| Closed before pretrial | 222 | 5.8 months |
| Closed during or after pretrial | 4 | not reported |
| Closed during trial | 8 | not reported |
| 12 months ending | Cases closed | Median time |
|---|---|---|
| Sep 2025 | 395 | 8 months |
| Sep 2024 | 360 | 7.6 months |
| Sep 2023 | 363 | 8.9 months |
| Sep 2022 | 311 | 10.5 months |
| Sep 2021 | 372 | 9.5 months |
| Sep 2020 | 339 | 7.7 months |
| Sep 2019 | 341 | 9.4 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 Shields with the record in hand
Ezel grounds your drafting and research in this profile: what has persuaded Judge Shields, and what has not, cited to the signed orders.
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