William Odis Bertelsman
How Judge Bertelsman rules, drawn from 16 signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
About Judge Bertelsman
William Odis Bertelsman is a judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky. Appointed by President Jimmy Carter, Judge Bertelsman received a commission on November 27, 1979. Judge Bertelsman assumed senior status on February 1, 2001.
Judge Bertelsman's practices and standing orders
The court's website lists no individual practices or standing orders of Judge Bertelsman's own (checked October 11, 2026), so the court's local rules and general orders are the place to look (court page ↗).
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).
- General Order 25-7 - Motions Under U.S.S.G. § 5K1.1 and 18 U.S.C. § 3553(e) ↗
- General Order 23-08 - Plea Agreements and Supplements in Criminal Cases ↗
- General Order 22-15 - Standing Procedures for Social Security Actions ↗
- Joint General Order 21-1 - Electronic Case Filing Administrative Policies and Procedures ↗
- General Order 21-1 - Procedures for Highly Sensitive Documents ↗
- General Order 14-11 - Possession and Use of Electronic Devices by Bar ↗
How Judge Bertelsman decides
Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
What persuades
In McLaren-Knipfer, Bertelsman found a benefits denial deficient where the reviewers discounted the only physician evidence through a narrow reading of test results rather than a competing medical assessment.
“Yet, the reviewers rejected his opinion out of hand based solely on their narrow and inaccurate interpretation of the test results, as opposed to a genuine disagreement among medical professionals.”
Procedural preferences
In Kentucky Speedway, Bertelsman treated strong local public interest and the plaintiff's chosen forum as sufficient to outweigh related contractual forum clauses.
“the great public interest in having this dispute decided locally tips the balance in favor of retaining the case here.”
Signed rulings
A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.
“That the motions of the defendants to strike plaintiffs supplemented response (Docs. # 17 and # 19) be, and they are, hereby denied;”
“That the motions of the defendants to dismiss (Docs. # 7 and # 9) be, and they are, hereby denied.”
“That the motion of defendant, CSX Transportation, Inc., for summary judgment (Doc. # 27) be, and it is, hereby granted.”
“That the motion to transfer venue (Doc. # 30) be, and it is, hereby DENIED;”
“Defendants’ joint motion to strike the report and testimony of plaintiffs’ expert witness (Doc. 69) is hereby DENIED;”
“Motion of Defendants, Kenton County Detention Center, Kenton County Fiscal Court, and Jailer Terry Carl and Chief Deputy Rodney Ballard, in their official capacities, for summary judgment (Doc. # 71) is hereby GRANTED”
“Motion of Defendants, Jailer Terry Carl and Chief Deputy Rodney Ballard, in their individual capacities, for summary judgment (Doc. # 70) is hereby GRANTED”
“That the defendants’ motion for judgment as a matter of law (Doc. 64) be, and hereby is, DENIED;”
“The Court denied the motion for the same reasons expressed in its earlier opinion addressing this issue.”
“Defendants’ motion to strike (Doc. 63) is GRANTED and the parties’ cross-motions for summary judgment are GRANTED IN PART AND DENIED IN PART (Docs. 53, 65), consistent with this Memorandum Opinion;”
“the Defendant’s motion to dismiss (Doc. 19) be, and hereby is, GRANTED;”
“The motion for summary judgment by Plaintiff Jill Van Winkle (Doc. 41) be, and is hereby, GRANTED”
“The motion for summary judgment by Defendant HM Insurance Group (Doc. 44) be, and is hereby, GRANTED IN PART AND DENIED IN PART”
“State Farm and Swerdloffs motion for summary judgment (Doc. 28) be, and is hereby, GRANTED IN PART AND DENIED IN PART”
“Norcold’s motion for leave to file a surreply (Doc. 33) be, and is hereby, GRANTED;”
“Following argument, the Court announced its decision to deny the motion to dismiss”
“Defendants' motions for summary judgment (Docs. 151, 152) be, and are hereby, GRANTED IN PART AND DENIED IN PART.”
“Plaintiffs' motion for summary judgment (Doc. 153) be, and is hereby, GRANTED IN PART AND DENIED IN PART”
Caseload & timing
From public federal docket records for this judge.
Median case duration in the sampled dockets: 247 days (N = 5).
The five sampled terminated matters included two Social Security appeals and one matter each involving property, employment benefits, and civil rights.
Pending matters in the official report
Judge Bertelsman was last listed in the Civil Justice Reform Act report as of March 31, 2024.
| 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 2024 | 0 | 0 |
| Sep 2023 | 0 | 0 |
| Mar 2023 | 0 | 6 |
| Sep 2022 | 1 | 3 |
| Mar 2022 | 3 | 3 |
| Sep 2021 | 1 | 3 |
| Mar 2021 | 13 | 4 |
| Sep 2020 | 16 | 4 |
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 Eastern District of Kentucky, not for Judge Bertelsman: 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 | 725 | 8.3 months |
| Closed with no court action | 107 | 7 months |
| Closed before pretrial | 602 | 8.3 months |
| Closed during or after pretrial | 6 | not reported |
| Closed during trial | 10 | 37.4 months |
| 12 months ending | Cases closed | Median time |
|---|---|---|
| Sep 2025 | 725 | 8.3 months |
| Sep 2024 | 653 | 8.5 months |
| Sep 2023 | 935 | 14 months |
| Sep 2022 | 810 | 11.6 months |
| Sep 2021 | 811 | 11 months |
| Sep 2020 | 804 | 8.7 months |
| Sep 2019 | 1,098 | 12 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 Bertelsman with the record in hand
Ezel grounds your drafting and research in this profile: what has persuaded Judge Bertelsman, and what has not, cited to the signed orders.
Opens in Ezel Pro.
- Grounded in Judge Bertelsman's own signed orders
- Cites every source it relies on, so you can verify it
- Chat, drafting and research in one workspace