Lanny King
How Judge King rules, drawn from 18 signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
About Judge King
Lanny King has served as a United States magistrate judge in the Western District of Kentucky since 2011, sitting in Paducah. His work includes Social Security appeals, federal habeas petitions, referred pretrial motions, and preliminary criminal proceedings.
Judge King's practices and standing orders
The court's website lists no individual practices or standing orders of Judge King's own (checked October 9, 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).
How Judge King decides
Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
Procedural preferences
In Patti's Holding Company, LLC v. Zurich American Insurance Company, King granted the plaintiffs' motion to compel the insurer's claims file in a first-party insurance dispute.
“For discovery requests in first-party cases, because the insurance file is created on behalf of the insured, the entire file is typically discoverable by the plaintiff.”
In Plainview Mobile Home Park v. City of Oak Grove, King declined to strike an expert after a deficient disclosure. He ordered the plaintiffs to supplement the expert report, citing the court's preference for resolving cases on the merits.
“This Court has expressed preference for resolving cases on the merits. ... Instead, the Court will exercise its discretion and direct Plaintiffs to supplement their Expert Disclosure with a written report.”
In several proposed protective orders, he required specifically defined confidential material and a legal basis for protection; he declined broad stipulations without prejudice and invited narrower proposals.
“The Court will consider entry of an Agreed Protective Order for narrowly defined documents or classes of documents for which specific legal authority is articulated to justify their protection”
In a special-education appeal, he declined to expand the administrative record without a sufficiently identified and justified proffer, while allowing counsel to renew the request on a showing of good cause.
“This Court also declines to admit additional, unspecified evidence.”
Signed rulings
A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.
“the court finds no merit in Claimant's Objections and will therefore adopt Magistrate Judge King's well-reasoned Report as the opinion of the court.”
“the undersigned recommends remand under Sentence Four of 42 U.S.C. § 405(g) due to the problems discussed above.”
“the Magistrate Judge RECOMMENDS that the Court AFFIRM the final decision of the Commissioner, and judgment be GRANTED for the Commissioner.”
“The Court ADOPTS the Magistrate Judge's Findings of Fact and Recommendation and OVERRULES Walker's objections. ... The Court DISMISSES WITH PREJUDICE Walker's Petition.”
“Magistrate Judge King's Recommendation [R. 82] is ADOPTED as the opinion of this Court. Defendant's Motion Under 28 U.S.C. § 2255 to Vacate, Set Aside, or Correct Sentence by a Person in Federal Custody [R. 60] is DENIED.”
“Plaintiffs' motion to compel (Dkt. 83) is GRANTED”
“Defendant Zurich's motion for a protective order (Dkt. 85) is DENIED”
“The Court referred the matter to Judge King for a Report and Recommendation. ... On October 17, 2023, Judge King issued his Report concluding that each of Watts' claims should be denied. ... the Court will overrule Watts' Objections and adopt Judge King's findings and recommendations.”
“Defendants' Motion for Summary Judgment (DN 79) is GRANTED.”
“Plaintiff's Second Motion for Attorney's Fees (DN 84) is DENIED AS MOOT.”
“Defendants' Motion to Strike is DENIED.”
“The proper result in this case is a remand for calculation and payment of benefits.”
“IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that counsel's Motion for Approval of Attorney Fee pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 406(b) [DN 27] is GRANTED IN PART and DENIED IN PART.”
“Accordingly, Plaintiff is not entitled to relief.”
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 |
| Sep 2024 | 0 | 0 |
| Mar 2024 | 0 | 0 |
| Sep 2023 | 0 | 0 |
| Mar 2023 | 0 | 0 |
| Sep 2022 | 0 | 0 |
| Mar 2022 | 1 | 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 Western District of Kentucky, not for Judge King: 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 | 931 | 7.9 months |
| Closed with no court action | 121 | 3.7 months |
| Closed before pretrial | 790 | 8.4 months |
| Closed during or after pretrial | 17 | 27.1 months |
| Closed during trial | 3 | not reported |
| 12 months ending | Cases closed | Median time |
|---|---|---|
| Sep 2025 | 931 | 7.9 months |
| Sep 2024 | 966 | 9.9 months |
| Sep 2023 | 835 | 9.6 months |
| Sep 2022 | 1,130 | 11.7 months |
| Sep 2021 | 1,065 | 10.2 months |
| Sep 2020 | 1,184 | 8.4 months |
| Sep 2019 | 1,111 | 8.6 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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