William Elwood Steckler
How Judge Steckler rules, drawn from 18 signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
Judge Steckler no longer hears cases. This profile is preserved as a historical record of how they ruled.
How Judge Steckler decides
Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
What persuades
In Cates, Steckler treated the divided loyalties created by joint representation during plea negotiations as an actual conflict warranting conditional habeas relief.
“there was no way that the petitioner’s counsel could effectively represent the petitioner’s interests at the same time that he was negotiating a plea agreement on his co-defendant’s behalf.”
Procedural preferences
In the Baylor arbitration dispute, Steckler held that a party forfeits a threshold arbitrability objection by waiting until after arbitration to raise it.
“a party waives its right to require a judicial determination of substantive arbitrability if it does not raise the issue of non-arbitrability prior to the arbitration proceedings.”
Signed rulings
A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.
“Defendant B & O’s motion to dismiss for want of an indispensable party is overruled.”
“the motion of the defendant, The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Company, for summary judgment is granted.”
“the referee’s order of August 29, 1960, be vacated”
“the action of the referee sustaining defendant’s motion to dismiss is affirmed.”
“plaintiff’s complaint herein, be and the same is hereby dismissed on the ground that the complaint fails to-state a claim against the defendant upon which relief can be granted”
“defendant’s motion should be, and it is, hereby GRANTED.”
“said motion should be, and it is, hereby GRANTED.”
“the Motion to Certify Class Pursuant to Rule 23(c)(1) is hereby DENIED.”
“defendants’ motion for a jury trial is DENIED.”
“the Court hereby GRANTS the plaintiff’s motion for summary judgment”
“DENIES the defendant’s motion for summary judgment.”
“defendant’s motion for a new trial should be, and it is hereby, DENIED.”
“the OSM’s motion to dismiss B & M Coal’s complaint for failure to state a claim, Fed.R.Civ.P. 12(b)(6), must be and hereby is GRANTED.”
“the OSM’s motion for summary judgment, Fed. R.Civ.P. 56, on its counterclaim must be and hereby is GRANTED”
“the Rich Group’s Rule 12(b) motion to dismiss for lack of standing must be, and hereby is, GRANTED.”
Caseload & timing
From public federal docket records for this judge.
Median case duration in the sampled dockets: 2744 days (N = 5).
The five sampled terminated matters were filed from 1970 through 1975. Their archived metadata did not identify the nature of suit.
A historical record
Judge Steckler no longer hears cases. This profile stays available as a record of how they ruled. If you're preparing for a matter, start from the court's current bench.