James Columcille Dever III
How Judge Dever rules, drawn from 23 signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
About Judge Dever
James C. Dever, III is a judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina. Appointed by President George W. Bush, Judge Dever received a commission on May 2, 2005.
Judge Dever's practices and standing orders
Rules for cases before Judge Dever, 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
Filing
All documents of at least 20 pages, including attachments and exhibits, require a courtesy copy.
“Counsel shall provide a courtesy copy of ALL documents containing twenty (20) or more pages, including all attachments and/or exhibits, for Judge Dever.”
Filing
A proposed order should accompany all nondispositive motions.
“A proposed order should be filed as an attachment to all non-dispositive motions.”
Motions
Emergency motions assigned to Judge Dever should be flagged to the intake deputy clerk.
“If Judge Dever is assigned, the intake deputy clerk should be advised that the matter requires immediate attention.”
Motions
Criminal continuance motions generally must be submitted at least five business days before the session.
“Motions to continue, either by attorneys or the United States Probation Office, are to be submitted to the court at least five (5) business days prior to the beginning of a session, absent exigent circumstances.”
Trial
Parties must send expert witness materials to chambers in advance of trial.
“Judge Dever requires that the parties submit all ‘expert’ witness material, including c.v.'s, reports, depositions, and objections to qualifications, to chambers in advance of trial so that the court may conduct its gatekeeping function.”
Trial
Counsel using court-owned presentation equipment should contact the clerk a week before trial.
“Please contact the Clerk's office one week prior to a trial in which you want to use evidence-presentation equipment that is the property of the court.”
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 Dever decides
Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
What persuades
Dever applied strict scrutiny to a content-based speech restriction and upheld the autodialing ban as narrowly tailored to residential privacy because the proposed alternatives were not equally effective. A later Supreme Court decision severed the government-debt exception while leaving the general ban in place.
“the court concludes that protecting the well-being, tranquility, and privacy of the individual's residence is a compelling state interest and that the TCPA auto-dialing ban furthers that compelling interest.”
Procedural preferences
Dever has denied an otherwise persuasive summary-judgment motion without prejudice when the nonmovant properly invoked Rule 56(d) to obtain discovery, allowing the motion to be renewed afterward.
“In light of Lost Coast Brewery's request under Rule 56(d)(2) to conduct discovery, the court will deny without prejudice Aviator Brewing's motion for summary judgment.”
In Graybar Electric v. Team Construction, Dever allowed Cline to withdraw deemed admissions after finding that his failure to update his address was a good-faith mistake and that the opposing parties had tried to take advantage of his pro se status.
“the court grants Cline’s motion to withdraw his admissions”
Cautions
In Rocha v. Coastal Carolina Neuropsychiatric Crisis Services, Dever granted summary judgment on an ADA claim because Rocha offered no admissible evidence that the employer’s stated reason for discharging him was a pretext for disability discrimination.
“Rocha presents no admissible evidence suggesting that CCNCS’s stated reason for discharging him was pretextual.”
In Cooper v. Brunswick County Sheriff's Department, Dever denied summary judgment on the father's Fourth Amendment unreasonable seizure claim against two deputies because material disputes about the use of deadly force required a jury. He granted summary judgment on the other federal claims.
“the court DENIES defendants' motion for summary judgment [D.E. 47] as to Cooper Sr.'s federal claim against Sheehan and Carlisle under section 1983 and the Fourth Amendment for unreasonable seizure ... The court GRANTS defendants' and Hewett's motions for summary judgment ... as to all other federal claims”
In one retirement-plan case, Judge Dever held that participants lacked standing to challenge a fund in a separate series in which neither had invested. A plan-wide consulting fee alone did not trace their injury to that fund.
“plaintiffs lack standing to challenge the American Fund.”
In an ADA employment case, Judge Dever granted summary judgment where the employee supplied no evidence that a seated position or delegation of core floor-supervision duties would let him perform the job’s essential functions.
“Robinson fails to identify a reasonable accommodation that could have enabled him to perform the essential functions of the rehang supervisor position.”
Signed rulings
A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.
“In sum, the court GRANTS defendants' motion for summary judgment [D.E. 34] and DENIES plaintiffs' motion for summary judgment [D.E. 30]. The clerk shall close the case.”
“the court GRANTS Cline's motion to withdraw his admissions [D.E. 53] and GRANTS IN PART and DENIES IN PART TEAM and Western's motion for partial summary judgment [D.E. 48].”
“the court grants in part and denies in part defendant's motion, and grants in part and denies in part Rivera's motion for summary judgment.”
“In sum, Lost Coast Brewery's motion for partial summary judgment [D.E. 24] is DENIED. Aviator Brewing's motion for summary judgment [D.E. 19] is DENIED WITHOUT PREJUDICE pursuant to Rule 56(d) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure.”
“In sum, the court GRANTS defendant's motion for summary judgment [D.E. 113]. The court DENIES the other motions [D.E. 89, 93, 96, 98, 100, 108, 117, 123, 125, 130, 132, 137]. The clerk shall close the ease.”
“In sum, the court GRANTS defendant's motion for summary judgment [D.E. 113]. The court DENIES the other motions [D.E. 89, 93, 96, 98, 100, 108, 117, 123, 125, 130, 132, 137].”
“In sum, the court DENIES defendants' motion for summary judgment [D.E. 47] as to Cooper Sr.'s federal claim against Sheehan and Carlisle under section 1983 and the Fourth Amendment for unreasonable seizure (portions of claims 1, 10, 11), and for punitive damages (claim 16). The court GRANTS defendants' and Hewett's motions for summary judgment [D.E. 47, 54] as to all other federal claims (claims 2, 6, 7, 12).”
“In sum, the court GRANTS defendants' motion to dismiss [D.E. 26] and DISMISSES plaintiffs' first amended complaint without prejudice. ... and DENIES as futile leave to file the second amended complaint.”
“Accordingly, the court GRANTS in part and DENIES in part defendant's motion to dismiss plaintiffs' amended complaint [D.E. 23]. Count one may proceed. Counts two, three, and four are DISMISSED for failure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted. Plaintiff Kiels' request for injunctive relief is DISMISSED AS MOOT.”
“In sum, the court GRANTS defendants' motion for judgment on the pleadings [D.E. 8] and DENIES plaintiffs motion to strike [D.E. 20]. ... The clerk shall close the case.”
“In sum, the court GRANTS defendants' motions to dismiss [D.E. 8, 20, 26], DENIES Livingston's motion for leave to file an amended complaint [D.E. 35], and DISMISSES without prejudice the federal claims.”
“Martin violated Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 11(b), and the court grants defendants' motion for sanctions. The court admonishes Martin, directs her to pay $250 into court as a sanction for violating Rule 11 ...”
“No rational jury could find that defendant failed to promote Cherry to captain due to his race or that defendant retaliated against Cherry for his April 2011 complaint concerning his non-promotion. Accordingly, the court GRANTS defendant's motion for summary judgment [D.E. 35].”
Caseload & timing
From public federal docket records for this judge.
Median case duration in the sampled dockets: 184 days (N = 8).
Median motion-to-ruling time: 172 days (N = 19).
The reviewed January 2019 cases include a substantial prisoner-petition and habeas component alongside employment, civil-rights, mortgage-servicing, civil forfeiture, Social Security, and personal-injury matters. This narrow filing-month sample is not a complete caseload baseline.
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 | 143 |
| Report | Motions over six months | Cases over three years |
|---|---|---|
| Mar 2026 | 0 | 143 |
| Sep 2025 | 18 | 6 |
| Mar 2025 | 0 | 6 |
| Sep 2024 | 3 | 9 |
| Mar 2024 | 0 | 11 |
| Sep 2023 | 7 | 8 |
| Mar 2023 | 7 | 8 |
| Sep 2022 | 0 | 8 |
| Mar 2022 | 0 | 9 |
| Sep 2021 | 1 | 7 |
| Mar 2021 | 1 | 4 |
| Sep 2020 | 0 | 2 |
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 North Carolina, not for Judge Dever: 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 | 1,130 | 8.3 months |
| Closed with no court action | 640 | 8.1 months |
| Closed before pretrial | 486 | 8.3 months |
| Closed during or after pretrial | 2 | not reported |
| Closed during trial | 2 | not reported |
| 12 months ending | Cases closed | Median time |
|---|---|---|
| Sep 2025 | 1,130 | 8.3 months |
| Sep 2024 | 1,093 | 7.1 months |
| Sep 2023 | 967 | 9 months |
| Sep 2022 | 884 | 11.6 months |
| Sep 2021 | 864 | 10.5 months |
| Sep 2020 | 802 | 8.8 months |
| Sep 2019 | 950 | 9.4 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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