Robert Porter Chamberlin
How Judge Chamberlin rules, drawn from 21 signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
About Judge Chamberlin
Robert Porter Chamberlin is a judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Mississippi. Appointed by President Donald J. Trump, Judge Chamberlin received a commission on December 16, 2025.
Judge Chamberlin's practices and standing orders
The court's website lists no individual practices or standing orders of Judge Chamberlin'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 Chamberlin decides
Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
What persuades
Enforces jurisdictional limits where state-law claims are only remotely connected to a bankruptcy and the statutory abstention elements are met.
“the law gives the court no choice but to abstain from hearing non-core cases premised on state law”
Allows a first amendment before dismissing a pro se complaint when the identified pleading defect may be curable.
“district courts should not dismiss pro se complaints pursuant to Rule 12(b)(6) without first providing the plaintiff an opportunity to amend”
In a removed premises liability suit, he remanded after the defendants failed to show that the resident store manager had no possible liability under state law. His analysis treated uncertainty in the state-law theory as insufficient to establish improper joinder.
“McFerrin’s Motion to Remand [6] is hereby GRANTED based on lack of complete diversity of citizenship, and the case shall be REMANDED to the Circuit Court of Lee County, Mississippi.”
Procedural preferences
Applies the federal service rules after removal and may extend the service period when removal occurred before service was perfected.
“the federal rules govern procedure once a case is removed to a district court”
Cautions
In Rivera v. Steel Dynamics Columbus, LLC, he dismissed the case with prejudice after the plaintiff repeatedly failed to answer discovery, disobeyed court orders, and ignored warnings; he found lesser sanctions ineffective.
“Dismissal with prejudice is a harsh sanction. However, Rivera’s actions, or lack thereof, have earned it under each rule.”
In Harris v. Pinnacle Bank, Chamberlin dismissed the consolidated actions with prejudice after the plaintiff repeatedly submitted fabricated legal authorities despite Rule 11 findings and explicit warnings. He found the conduct willful and in bad faith and concluded that lesser sanctions would not adequately address it.
“the Court further concludes that Plaintiff's conduct was willful and in bad faith”
Signed rulings
A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.
“Plaintiff's Amended Motion to Remand [21] is GRANTED, and this action shall be REMANDED to the Circuit Court of Grenada County, Mississippi.”
“Parker-Hannifin's Motion to Dismiss [13] is GRANTED.”
“LeSueur's Motions for Clerk's Entry of Default [24, 25, 26] are DENIED.”
“Trans Union's Motion to Dismiss [Doc. 7] is therefore DENIED without prejudice.”
“Defendant Pinnacle Bank's [46] Motion to Dismiss / Motion for Sanctions and Plaintiff Joshua Harris's [57] Motion to Vacate are DENIED AS MOOT.”
“finding as moot (57) Motion to Vacate in case 3:25-cv-00157-RPC-RP”
“finding as moot (47) Motion to Vacate in case 3:25-cv-00158-RPC-RP”
“The Court has reviewed the Motion [40] and finds it to be well-taken. Therefore, the Motion [40] is GRANTED. This matter is hereby DISMISSED with prejudice.”
“ORDER dismissing as moot 10 Motion to Dismiss for Failure to State a Claim.”
“Nelson's Motion to Join and Remand is GRANTED IN PART and DENIED IN PART. The motion is GRANTED to the extent it seeks joinder of Trustmark as a required party pursuant to Rule 19. The motion is DENIED to the extent it seeks remand of this action to state court”
“Allstate's Motion to Dismiss is GRANTED in part and DENIED in part.”
“the Court DENIES without prejudice GML's motion to dismiss”
“and DENIES McFarland's motions to dismiss.”
“Wortham's Motion for Extension of Time to Perfect Service of Process [Doc. 25] is GRANTED”
“Plaintiff's Motion to Proceed in forma pauperis [2] is DENIED”
“Respondent's Motion [8] to Dismiss should be GRANTED, and the instant petition for a writ of habeas corpus will be DISMISSED without prejudice for failure to exhaust available state court remedies.”
“Davenport's Motion to Remand [Doc. 10] is GRANTED, and the matter is REMANDED to state court.”
“MAIC's Motion to Dismiss [Doc. 6] is dismissed as MOOT.”
Caseload & timing
From public federal docket records for this judge.
Median motion-to-ruling time: 1 days (N = 4).
The early assignment set includes employment and civil-rights cases, consumer-credit disputes, insurance and personal-injury matters, habeas and prisoner cases, labor claims, Social Security appeals, and commercial litigation.
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 |
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 U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Mississippi, not for Judge Chamberlin: 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 | 563 | 7.3 months |
| Closed with no court action | 121 | 2.8 months |
| Closed before pretrial | 199 | 4.2 months |
| Closed during or after pretrial | 242 | 11.8 months |
| Closed during trial | 1 | not reported |
| 12 months ending | Cases closed | Median time |
|---|---|---|
| Sep 2025 | 563 | 7.3 months |
| Sep 2024 | 734 | 5.5 months |
| Sep 2023 | 761 | 5.7 months |
| Sep 2022 | 640 | 10.8 months |
| Sep 2021 | 592 | 10.7 months |
| Sep 2020 | 633 | 9.3 months |
| Sep 2019 | 567 | 9 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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