Richard F. Boulware II
How Judge Boulware rules, drawn from 30 signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
About Judge Boulware
Richard Franklin Boulware, II is a judge of the United States District Court for the District of Nevada. Appointed by President Barack Obama, Judge Boulware received a commission on June 10, 2014.
How Judge Boulware decides
Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
What persuades
In United States v. Soto-Mejia, he dismissed an illegal-reentry indictment after finding that defects in the immigration court's jurisdiction made the underlying removal orders void.
“IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that the Motion to Dismiss is GRANTED. The Indictment in this case is DISMISSED.”
In United States v. $32,750 in United States Currency, he granted the claimants' suppression motion in a civil forfeiture case after finding that the seized cash was the fruit of an unlawful search.
“As will be discussed below, the Court finds that the currency obtained in this case was the fruit of an unlawful search. The Motion to Suppress is therefore granted.”
In Cung Le v. Zuffa, he denied the defendant's motion to dismiss the mixed martial arts fighters' antitrust claims at the pleading stage.
“the Court DENIES the Motion to Dismiss (ECF No. 64)”
In Trustees of the Nevada Resort Association v. National Convention Services, he entered ERISA default judgment for audit and attorney fees after finding that trust agreements established audit rights and the employer failed to defend.
“Plaintiffs provide sufficient evidence demonstrating that the requested damages resulted from, and thus are proportional to, Defendant’s failure to provide the records for the audit.”
In the Luster habeas case, he held that denial of the state-law jury penalty determination without the required signed waiver violated due process and ordered jury resentencing.
“The Court finds Nevada arbitrarily denied Luster the jury sentence to which he was entitled 22 under state law, and that Luster was denied due process of law.”
Procedural preferences
In Koiro v. Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, he denied summary judgment on the negligence claim arising from an officer's use of force while granting judgment on other claims.
“IT IS THEREFORE ORDERED that Defendants’ Motion for Summary Judgment is DENIED with respect to Count One, Plaintiffs negligence claim.”
In Trustees of the Nevada Resort Association v. National Convention Services, he considered subject matter and personal jurisdiction before granting the plaintiffs’ motion for ERISA default judgment.
“Before entering default judgment against a non-appearing party, district courts have a duty to consider subject matter jurisdiction and personal jurisdiction.”
In a hotel labor-arbitration dispute, he upheld an award where the arbitrator interpreted an ambiguous discipline clause in the collective bargaining agreement. The hotel’s stricter reading did not justify vacating the award.
“The Court therefore defers to the arbitrator’s decision”
Cautions
In JPMorgan Chase Bank v. SFR Investments Pool 1, he granted summary judgment to the foreclosure purchaser after rejecting the lender's challenges to a Nevada HOA foreclosure sale.
“Summary judgment is therefore granted in favor of Defendants on all claims.”
Signed rulings
A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.
“Summary judgment is therefore granted in favor of Defendants on all claims.”
“Defendant's Motion for Summary Judgment (Dkt. No. 68) is GRANTED in part, and DENIED in part.”
“Plaintiff's Motion for Summary Judgment (Dkt. No. 67) is DENIED.”
“the Court DENIES the Motion to Dismiss (ECF No. 64)”
“IT IS THEREFORE ORDERED that Defendant’s [ECF No. 9] Motion to Dismiss is GRANTED IN PART and DENIED IN PART, as follows: Count I (Violation of the Contracts Clause) is dismissed. Count II (Due Process Clause) is not dismissed.”
“IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that the Motion to Dismiss is GRANTED. The Indictment in this case is DISMISSED.”
“Before the Court is Defendant's Motion for Summary Judgment (ECF No. 67). For the reasons discussed below, the Motion for Summary Judgment is granted.”
“As will be discussed below, the Court finds that the currency obtained in this case was the fruit of an unlawful search. The Motion to Suppress is therefore granted.”
“IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that SFR's Motion for Summary Judgment (ECF No. 57) is GRANTED.”
“IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that BNY's Motion for Summary Judgment (ECF No. 55) is DENIED and its remaining claims DISMISSED.”
“Before the Court is Plaintiffs Motion for Summary Judgment. (Dkt. No. 57). For the reasons elaborated below, the motion is GRANTED.”
“IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that Defendant's Motion Summary Judgment is granted. ECF No. 105. The Clerk of Court shall enter judgment in favor of Defendants and close this case.”
“IT IS ORDERED that Plaintiffs' Motion for Partial Summary Judgment is denied. ECF No. 120.”
“IT IS THEREFORE ORDERED that Defendants’ Motion for Summary Judgment is DENIED.”
“For the reasons stated below, the Court denies both plaintiffs Motion for Partial Summary Judgment (ECF No. 28) and Defendant’s Motion for Summary Judgment (ECF No. 29).”
Caseload & timing
From public federal docket records for this judge.
A separate recent snapshot contains many 2026 immigration detention petitions and other pending civil matters. The older completed-case review spans eight matters filed in early 2017, including property, employment, and personal injury disputes. These narrow slices do not establish the judge’s overall caseload mix.
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 | 10 |
| Bench trials submitted more than six months | 1 |
| Bankruptcy appeals pending more than six months | 1 |
| Social Security appeals pending more than six months | 0 |
| Civil cases pending more than three years | 92 |
| Report | Motions over six months | Cases over three years |
|---|---|---|
| Mar 2026 | 10 | 92 |
| Sep 2025 | 6 | 107 |
| Mar 2025 | 6 | 103 |
| Sep 2024 | 5 | 111 |
| Mar 2024 | 7 | 114 |
| Sep 2023 | 21 | 118 |
| Mar 2023 | 20 | 118 |
| Sep 2022 | 18 | 122 |
| Mar 2022 | 13 | 127 |
| Sep 2021 | 12 | 105 |
| Mar 2021 | 19 | 106 |
| Sep 2020 | 20 | 110 |
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 District of Nevada, not for Judge Boulware: 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 | 2,100 | 8 months |
| Closed with no court action | 290 | 5.4 months |
| Closed before pretrial | 1,769 | 8.4 months |
| Closed during or after pretrial | 28 | 8 months |
| Closed during trial | 13 | 62 months |
| 12 months ending | Cases closed | Median time |
|---|---|---|
| Sep 2025 | 2,100 | 8 months |
| Sep 2024 | 2,177 | 8.5 months |
| Sep 2023 | 2,000 | 8.4 months |
| Sep 2022 | 2,030 | 8.8 months |
| Sep 2021 | 2,291 | 8.6 months |
| Sep 2020 | 2,392 | 10.4 months |
| Sep 2019 | 2,679 | 11.5 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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