David D. Noce
How Judge Noce rules, drawn from 5 signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
Judge Noce no longer sits on this court. This profile is preserved as a historical record of how they ruled here.
About Judge Noce
David D. Noce served as a United States Magistrate Judge for the Eastern District of Missouri from October 1976 until his retirement from regular active service in April 2023. He was the district’s Chief Magistrate Judge from 1989 to 1996 and previously served as an Assistant United States Attorney.
How Judge Noce decides
Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
What persuades
In Social Security appeals, this judge looks closely at whether the ALJ adequately developed the record on a claimed listing-level impairment; a bare conclusory finding that the record does not support a listing, without addressing specific contrary medical evidence, draws a remand.
“This finding that no administrative record evidence supported Listing 1.04 is not supported by substantial evidence in the record.”
New medical evidence submitted to the Appeals Council after the ALJ's decision cannot be waved away simply because it postdates the decision; it must be evaluated for whether it is new, material, and related back to the claimant's condition as of the decision date.
“The Appeals Council is obligated to consider additional evidence that is new, material, and related to the period on or before the date of the ALJ's decision as if it was presented to the ALJ.”
Procedural preferences
On suppression motions, this judge applies a fact-intensive, multi-factor custody analysis and gives weight to whether officers expressly told a suspect he was not under arrest and was free to leave, rather than resting on any single circumstance.
“Five of the six factors listed above suggest that he was not in custody: Defendant was informed at the time of questioning that he was not considered under arrest; he had unrestrained freedom of movement, as his handcuffs had been removed; no strong arm tactics or deceptive strategems were used by the officers; the questioning was not police dominated, rather it was a casual conversation; and Defendant was not placed under arrest at the termination of the questioning.”
Signed rulings
A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.
“For the reasons set forth below, the decision of the Commissioner is reversed and the case remanded for further proceedings.”
“For the reasons set forth below, pursuant to Sentence 4 of 42 U.S.C. Sec. 405(g), the final decision of the Commissioner is reversed and the case is remanded to the defendant Commissioner for further proceedings consistent with this memorandum opinion.”
“IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that Defendant's Motion to Dismiss Indictment [doc. #19] is DENIED.”
“IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that Defendant's Motion to Suppress Statements [doc. #21] is DENIED.”
“IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that Defendant's Motion to Suppress Evidence [doc. #22] is DENIED.”
“The parties have consented to the exercise of jurisdiction by the undersigned United States Magistrate Judge pursuant to 28 U.S.C. Sec. 636(c). The court concludes that petitioner is not entitled to habeas relief.”
“Since petitioner's claim does not meet either of the elements of the statute, the claim must fail on the merits. This action is dismissed on its merits.”
Caseload & timing
From public federal docket records for this judge.
- The analyzed sample focuses on Social Security appeals and a smaller set of published rulings.
- This judge's docket over 46+ years also included a large volume of habeas corpus petitions, prisoner civil-rights cases, referred criminal pretrial matters, and general consent civil matters typical of a very long-serving magistrate judge's referred-and-consent docket; the broader docket was not surveyed exhaustively.
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 |
| Mar 2023 | 0 | 2 |
| Sep 2022 | 0 | 5 |
| Mar 2022 | 0 | 2 |
| Sep 2021 | 2 | 2 |
| Mar 2021 | 3 | 5 |
| Sep 2020 | 7 | 6 |
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.
A historical record
Judge Noce no longer sits on this court. This profile stays available as a record of how they ruled here. If you're preparing for a matter, start from the court's current bench.