Richard George Kopf
How Judge Kopf rules, drawn from 19 signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
Judge Kopf no longer hears cases. This profile is preserved as a historical record of how they ruled here.
About Judge Kopf
Richard George Kopf was a judge of the United States District Court for the District of Nebraska. Appointed by President George H.W. Bush, Judge Kopf received a commission on May 26, 1992. Judge Kopf assumed senior status on December 1, 2011 and served until death on January 17, 2025.
How Judge Kopf decides
Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
What persuades
In Hall v. Baker, Kopf denied defendant Blaser’s summary-judgment motion in a jail-death suit. He found that affidavits from people incarcerated at the jail, if believed, could allow a jury to find Blaser knew of and disregarded Hall’s serious medical needs.
“The affidavits upon which the disputed facts are based, if believed, would permit a reasonable jury to find that Hall had objectively serious medical needs and that Blaser actually knew of, but deliberately disregarded, those needs.”
Procedural preferences
In Awnings v. Fullerton, Kopf denied a motion to alter summary judgment because the plaintiff had not cited medical records in his opposition brief and the records were unauthenticated. He held the court was not required to search the record for uncited evidence and could not consider those records on that motion.
“Because Plaintiff did not reference the medical records in the brief filed in opposition to Defendants' motion for summary judgment, the court was not required to search out the records on its own and consider them. In fact, the court could not have considered the records for purposes of deciding the summary judgment motion because they are not authenticated.”
Cautions
In Shelden v. Smith, Kopf observed that a magistrate judge lacked authority to deny a dispositive motion rather than recommend its disposition. He independently denied the motion to dismiss without prejudice pending related appeals, without reaching its merits.
“Although not objected to by the Defendants, Judge Zwart lacked the power to deny the motion to dismiss as opposed to issuing a report and recommendation suggesting that the motion to dismiss be denied.”
Signed rulings
A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.
“IT IS ORDERED that defendant Jesse Blaser's motion for summary judgment (filing 71) is denied.”
“IT IS ORDERED that Plaintiff's motion to alter or amend judgment (Filing No. 135) is denied.”
“Without reaching the merits of the motion to dismiss, and particularly the issue of qualified immunity, I now independently decide that the motion to dismiss should be denied without prejudice pending the appeals in the related cases.”
“Plaintiff's motion to dismiss (filing 11) is granted pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 41(a) and the plaintiff's action is dismissed without prejudice, at plaintiff's costs.”
“Defendant's motion to quash service and to dismiss (filing 3) is dismissed without prejudice, as moot.”
“Defendant's motion to disqualify plaintiff's counsel (filing 4) is dismissed without prejudice, as moot.”
“The court determines that the Petition for Writ of Habeas Corpus is not cognizable in a federal court habeas corpus action. The Petition is dismissed without prejudice to reassertion in accordance with this Memorandum and Order.”
“The defendant's motion to dismiss (filing 14) is denied.”
“Plaintiff's motion to dismiss (filing 5) is granted, and Plaintiffs' action is dismissed without prejudice as against Defendants Lundeen Isaacson and Isaacson Insurance Agency.”
“Plaintiff's application for attorney fees (Filing 30) is denied;”
“The court construes this motion, at least in part, as requesting relief under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 56(d) ... Plaintiff’s ‘Motion to have Defendants Summary Judgement Denied’ (Filing 58) is denied in all respects.”
“a certificate of appealablity will not issue under 28 U.S.C. 2253(c). ... That a Certificate of Appealability is denied;”
“The petition for writ of habeas corpus (filing no. 1) is dismissed without prejudice. No certificate of appealability has been or will be issued.”
“Petitioner's pending motions (filing nos. 4 & 5) are denied as moot.”
“The plaintiff's motion for summary judgment (Filing 302) is denied without prejudice to refiling, subject to the following conditions ...”
“The plaintiff's motion (Filing 303) to restrict access to certain exhibits that have been filed in support of the motion for summary judgment and that are subject to the protective order (Filing 191) is granted;”
Caseload & timing
From public federal docket records for this judge.
Median case duration in the sampled dockets: 385 days (N = 3).
From the 21-docket sample, the 7 cases actually assigned to Kopf span prisoner civil rights (Bradley), taxes (Raymond), other-statutory (Primero), employment / Civil Rights: Jobs (Kolar), Social Security (Parkins), and contract (Creighton University v. GE): a general civil docket, not the prisoner-heavy mix his published orders suggest. NOT a complete enumeration; a fuller pass would enumerate the full docket record across his 1992-2011 active tenure and post-2011 senior service.
Pending matters in the official report
Judge Kopf was last listed in the Civil Justice Reform Act report as of March 31, 2024.
| 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 2024 | 0 | 0 |
| Sep 2023 | 0 | 0 |
| Mar 2023 | 0 | 0 |
| Sep 2022 | 4 | 0 |
| Mar 2022 | 1 | 2 |
| Sep 2021 | 0 | 3 |
| Mar 2021 | 0 | 1 |
| Sep 2020 | 0 | 7 |
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 Kopf no longer hears cases. 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.