James P. O'Hara
How Judge O'Hara rules, drawn from 5 signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
About Judge O'Hara
James P. O'Hara joined the District of Kansas as a United States Magistrate Judge in 2000 and now serves on recall in Kansas City. He previously clerked for two federal district judges in Nebraska and practiced commercial litigation in Kansas City.
Judge O'Hara's practices and standing orders
Rules for cases before Judge O'Hara, 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.
Key rules
Trial
Disclose expected trial witnesses to opposing counsel by 5:30 p.m. the day before, unless the final pretrial order sets another deadline.
“witnesses (and preferably, all exhibits as well) that are expected to be used in the trial should be disclosed to opposing counsel no later than 5:30 p.m. the day before (unless the final pretrial order specifically calls for a different deadline).”
Trial
Schedule matters outside the jury’s presence for 8:30 a.m. or a recess, lunch, break, or after trial, with reasonable advance notice.
“Any matters to be considered outside the presence of the jury should be scheduled for 8:30 a.m. or a recess, during lunch, breaks, or after the conclusion of that day of trial, with reasonable advance notice given to the court and all counsel.”
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).
- Standing Order 26-04: Immigration Habeas Cases ↗
- Standing Order 26-01: Use of Artificial Intelligence in Court Filings ↗
- Standing Order 25-04: Access, Service, and Management of Sealed Documents ↗
- Standing Order 25-03: Suspension of Local Rule 79.4 for Civil Sealed Files ↗
- Standing Order 2021-1: Highly Sensitive Documents ↗
How Judge O'Hara decides
Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
What persuades
In Leo v. Garmin International, O’Hara recommended the requested appellate fee award after finding the claimed hours and Kansas City rates reasonable. He credited counsel’s voluntary write-off as evidence of billing judgment and made no lodestar adjustment.
“To show billing judgment, counsel for defendant should make a good-faith effort to exclude from a fee request hours that are excessive, redundant, or otherwise unnecessary, and the court has a corresponding obligation to exclude hours not 'reasonably expended' from the calculation.”
Procedural preferences
In Williams v. UnitedHealth Group, O'Hara recommended dismissal without prejudice after continued pretrial delays and incomplete discovery, despite earlier warnings. He weighed the Ehrenhaus factors, found monetary sanctions unlikely to overcome the pro se plaintiff's medical limitations, and proposed a one-year period to refile with completed discovery preserved.
“For the foregoing reasons, the undersigned recommends that this action be dismissed without prejudice.”
In Randolph v. QuikTrip, O’Hara granted leave to file a motion challenging an expert’s causation opinion and set a response deadline of 9 a.m. and a reply deadline of 5 p.m. on the same day.
“ORDER granting 64 Motion for Leave to File Motion to Exclude Plaintiff's Expert's Causation Opinion. Defendant is directed to file the motion to exclude forthwith. Any response to the motion to exclude shall be due by 9:00 a.m. on May 17, 2017. Any reply shall be due by 5:00 p.m. that same day.”
Signed rulings
A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.
“the undersigned U.S. Magistrate Judge, James P. O'Hara, recommends that the presiding U.S. District Judge, Kathryn H. Vratil, award defendant reasonable attorney fees in the amount requested. ... Total attorney fees = $12,710.90. The court finds that no adjustment of the lodestar figure is warranted.”
“The court therefore adopts Judge O'Hara's Report and Recommendation. Defendant is granted leave to proceed in forma pauperis, but his claim is dismissed under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(e)(2).”
Chief District Judge Julie A. Robinson's Order (read in full) ADOPTING O'Hara's R&R (his Doc. 6, 2016-10-19) after no objections were filed and a de novo review; the complaint was dismissed without prejudice. A screening/threshold dismissal on no party motion. The order was signed by Judge Robinson; it is recorded as O'Hara's recommendation adopted.
O'Hara's signed R&R, issued after a telephone status conference and a sua sponte order to show cause, recommended that District Judge Holly L. Teeter dismiss this pro se employment-discrimination case without prejudice, allowing refiling within one year, for failure to prosecute. He applied the five-factor Ehrenhaus test covering prejudice, interference, culpability, warning, and lesser sanctions; found dismissal warranted because the plaintiff's serious medical issues left her unable to complete her deposition or pretrial-order contributions despite repeated accommodations and an express prior warning; and declined to impose monetary sanctions. The recommendation arose from the court's show-cause order rather than a party motion.
“IT IS THEREFORE ORDERED that the motion for leave to proceed in forma pauperis (Doc. 2) is provisionally granted.”
“Because Plaintiff must file an amended complaint, the motion to amend the current complaint (Doc. 4) is denied as moot.”
“IT IS THEREFORE ORDERED that the response (Doc. 9) is liberally construed as a motion for extension of time to respond to the memorandum and order to show cause issued on March 24, 2026 (Doc. 3) and is granted.”
Caseload & timing
From public federal docket records for this judge.
Median case duration in the sampled dockets: 339 days (N = 3).
Median motion-to-ruling time: 0.5 days (N = 20).
- Not systematically enumerated.
- The docket shows O'Hara as the assigned magistrate (and, on consent, the trial judge) across a civil-rights, employment, FELA/railroad, and tort/PI mix.
- The four cases analyzed below are counseled consent (636(c)) civil suits: Randolph v. QuikTrip (premises-liability PI), Smart v. City of Wichita (Section 1983 civil rights), Hager v. BNSF (FELA railroad injury), and Larocca v. Walmart (slip-and-fall, resolved on summary judgment).
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 |
| 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 United States District Court for the District of Kansas, not for Judge O'Hara: 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 | 967 | 7 months |
| Closed with no court action | 225 | 4.8 months |
| Closed before pretrial | 645 | 6.9 months |
| Closed during or after pretrial | 83 | 18.3 months |
| Closed during trial | 14 | 22.5 months |
| 12 months ending | Cases closed | Median time |
|---|---|---|
| Sep 2025 | 967 | 7 months |
| Sep 2024 | 912 | 7.3 months |
| Sep 2023 | 909 | 7.7 months |
| Sep 2022 | 1,092 | 8.1 months |
| Sep 2021 | 1,063 | 8.2 months |
| Sep 2020 | 1,180 | 8.2 months |
| Sep 2019 | 1,884 | 20.7 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).
Draft for Judge O'Hara with the record in hand
Ezel grounds your drafting and research in this profile: what has persuaded Judge O'Hara, and what has not, cited to the signed orders.
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