David L. Piester
How Judge Piester decides
Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
What persuades
Piester's consent docket includes early, plaintiff-favorable civil-rights/disability-access decisions against University of Nebraska entities: he found for the disabled student on Rehabilitation Act / ADA roommate-access claims after a bench trial (Coleman v. Zatechka) and struck down a campus freshman-housing policy on First Amendment grounds (Rader v. Johnston). Practical lesson: well-developed constitutional / disability-discrimination records against state-university defendants have prevailed before him. Grounded in the verbatim judgment paragraphs; context-specific, do not over-generalize.
“The policy of the defendants in prohibiting plaintiff from participation in the random roommate assignment program at UNL is declared to violate both the Rehabilitation Act and the ADA, as applied to plaintiff.”
Motion outcomes
Counted from classified signed orders only. Percentages are shown only where the sample is large enough to be meaningful; smaller samples are reported as raw counts.
| Summary judgment N = 1 |
Granted: 1 | counts only |
A "1 of 1" is one ruling, not a tendency. Treat small samples as illustrative, not predictive.
Signed rulings
A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.
“IT THEREFORE HEREBY IS ORDERED: 1. Defendants' motion for summary judgment (filing 39) is granted with respect to plaintiff's constitutional and age discrimination claims. 2. Plaintiff's state law claim is dismissed without prejudice.”
Consent (636(c)) case ('the parties have consented to have this action proceed before me pursuant to 28 U.S.C. 636(c)') decided after a 2-DAY BENCH TRIAL (commenced April 19, 1993), NOT on a party motion -- so excluded from motion stats. A landmark early disability-access ruling: Piester entered judgment FOR THE PLAINTIFF on her Section 504 Rehabilitation Act and ADA claims, declaring UNL's policy of excluding her from the random roommate-assignment program unlawful as applied, enjoining it, and awarding compensatory damages. GROUNDING QUOTE: 'judgment hereby is entered as follows: 1. With respect to plaintiff's claims under Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act and the Americans with Disabilities Act, for plaintiff and against defendants ... 2. The policy of the defendants in prohibiting plaintiff from participation in the random roommate assignment program at UNL is declared to violate both the Rehabilitation Act and the ADA, as applied to plaintiff. 3. The defendants ... are enjoined from further prohibition of the plaintiff from participating ... 4. Plaintiff is awarded compensatory dam[ages].'
Consent (636(c)) case ('the parties consented to have me preside at trial and enter judgment pursuant to 28 U.S.C. 636(c)'); titled 'Memorandum of Decision'. A merits/declaratory judgment (not a party-motion ruling -> excluded from motion stats): Piester entered judgment FOR THE PLAINTIFF, declaring the University of Nebraska-Kearney freshman on-campus-housing policy unconstitutional as applied to him and enjoining its enforcement. GROUNDING QUOTE: 'judgment will be enter[ed] for the plaintiff, Douglas Rader. IT THEREFORE HEREBY IS ORDERED: 1. The defendants' enforcement of the University of Nebraska-Kearney's freshman housing policy, in its present form and application, against the plaintiff, Douglas Rader, is declared unconstitutional under the First Amendment ... 2. The defendants ... are ordered to refrain from enforcing in any way the Unive[rsity policy].'
Caseload & timing
From public federal docket records for this judge.
Median case duration in the sampled dockets: 491 days (N = 16).
Sample of ~21 dockets that docket lists with David L. Piester as assigned judge, filed 1990-2008. Nature-of-suit mix below is from case-level metadata; civil-rights, prisoner, contract, and ERISA matters predominate.