Max O. Cogburn Jr.
How Judge Cogburn rules, drawn from 21 signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
About Judge Cogburn
Max Oliver Cogburn, Jr. is a judge of the United States District Court for the Western District of North Carolina. Appointed by President Barack Obama, Judge Cogburn received a commission on March 11, 2011.
Judge Cogburn's practices and standing orders
Rules for cases before Judge Cogburn, 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
Motions
Agreement between parties does not extend the dispositive-motions deadline.
“Parties may not extend this deadline by agreement”
Discovery
A motion to compel must describe good-faith conferral and compliance with the court conference requirement.
“A motion to compel must include a statement by the movant that the parties have conferred in good faith with each other and have exhausted the requirement of a conference with 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 Cogburn decides
Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
What persuades
In Murphy, Cogburn allowed the county employee’s retaliation claim to proceed after finding the pleaded facts sufficient, while dismissing the other claims and defendants.
“Plaintiff’s factual allegations satisfy the lenient standards of Iqbal and Twombly.”
Procedural preferences
In Bruin, Cogburn declined to strike consumer class allegations at the pleading stage because the choice of governing law required further factual development.
“the choice of law determination is premature”
In Murphy, Cogburn declined to strike a response filed two days late, finding the delay alone insufficient to discard the entire brief.
“not a sufficient reason to strike the entire response brief.”
Cautions
In Rodgers, Cogburn dismissed an amended complaint without prejudice after the plaintiff failed to identify which claim applied to each defendant and failed to establish federal jurisdiction.
“Plaintiff has failed to clarify her claims and to show how each claim is tied to each Defendant.”
Signed rulings
A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.
“Defendants’ Motion to Dismiss, (Doc. No. 11), is GRANTED in part and DENIED in part, and all claims against all named Defendants are dismissed except for Plaintiff’s retaliation claim against Defendant Cleveland County.”
“Defendants’ Motion to Strike Plaintiff’s response to the motion to dismiss is DENIED. (Doc. No. 21).”
“ORDER denying 27 Motion for Sanctions against Attorney Stephanie Webster. Signed by District Judge Max O. Cogburn, Jr. on 10/22/2021.”
“ORDER that Deft Cleveland County's 35 MOTION for Summary Judgment is DENIED as premature; and Deft shall file an Answer to 1 Complaint within 14 days of entry of this Order.”
“the consent Motion to Dismiss Plaintiffs First Amendment Claims (#114) is GRANTED, and those claims are DISMISSED without prejudice”
“the court's Motion for Judgment on the Pleadings is GRANTED, and the court finds Article XIV, Section 6 of the North Carolina Constitution... UNCONSTITUTIONAL as they violate the Due Process and Equal Protection Clauses of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution”
“IT IS THEREFORE ORDERED, that Defendant's Motion to Dismiss (#38) is GRANTED, and this action is DISMISSED for lack of subject matter jurisdiction.”
“ORDER denying 22 defendant's Motion for Summary Judgment. Signed by District Judge Max O. Cogburn, Jr on 9/5/2017.”
“Petitioner's Motion to Vacate, Set Aside or Correct Sentence under 28 U.S.C. § 2255 [Doc. 1] is DENIED and DISMISSED.”
“denying 25 Motion for Reconsideration, MOTION for Certificate of Appealability filed by James Scott Ervin, Jr., 29; granting 29 Motion to Dismiss for Lack of Jurisdiction. Signed by District Judge Max O. Cogburn, Jr on 8/31/2022.”
“denying 25 Motion for Reconsideration, MOTION for Certificate of Appealability filed by James Scott Ervin, Jr.”
“IT IS, THEREFORE, ORDERED that Defendant’s Motion to Dismiss and Motion to Strike Class Allegations, (Doc. No. 10), is DENIED.”
“IT IS, THEREFORE, ORDERED that the Motion to Dismiss Count One of the Indictment (#21) is GRANTED and Count One is dismissed without prejudice.”
“IT IS THEREFORE ORDERED that Defendant's Motion to Dismiss Indictment (Doc. No. 14) is DENIED.”
“ORDER denying 32 Motion to Dismiss as to Quovartis Spencer (1). Signed by District Judge Max O. Cogburn, Jr on 10/18/2024.”
Caseload & timing
From public federal docket records for this judge.
Median case duration in the sampled dockets: 326 days (N = 10).
Median motion-to-ruling time: 77 days (N = 3).
The sampled civil caseload includes Social Security appeals, employment and other civil-rights actions, wage-and-hour claims, disability discrimination, consumer-credit disputes, and labor cases removed from state court. Referral magistrates include W. Carleton Metcalf, David C. Keesler, David S. Cayer, and Susan C. Rodriguez.
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 | 22 |
| Bench trials submitted more than six months | 0 |
| Bankruptcy appeals pending more than six months | 1 |
| Social Security appeals pending more than six months | 5 |
| Civil cases pending more than three years | 5 |
| Report | Motions over six months | Cases over three years |
|---|---|---|
| Mar 2026 | 22 | 5 |
| Sep 2025 | 12 | 6 |
| Mar 2025 | 13 | 4 |
| Sep 2024 | 12 | 6 |
| Mar 2024 | 1 | 4 |
| Sep 2023 | 0 | 6 |
| Mar 2023 | 15 | 6 |
| Sep 2022 | 23 | 3 |
| Mar 2022 | 0 | 2 |
| Sep 2021 | 0 | 2 |
| Mar 2021 | 0 | 3 |
| Sep 2020 | 12 | 3 |
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 North Carolina, not for Judge Cogburn: 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 | 1,033 | 5.9 months |
| Closed with no court action | 193 | 3 months |
| Closed before pretrial | 586 | 5.1 months |
| Closed during or after pretrial | 248 | 13.2 months |
| Closed during trial | 6 | not reported |
| 12 months ending | Cases closed | Median time |
|---|---|---|
| Sep 2025 | 1,033 | 5.9 months |
| Sep 2024 | 1,154 | 5.5 months |
| Sep 2023 | 958 | 6.9 months |
| Sep 2022 | 1,210 | 10.1 months |
| Sep 2021 | 951 | 10.3 months |
| Sep 2020 | 873 | 8.5 months |
| Sep 2019 | 816 | 9.1 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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