Jeffrey James Helmick

United States District Court for the Northern District of Ohio district Appointed by Barack Obama (Democratic) 18 signed orders read

How Judge Helmick decides

Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.

What persuades

Parses a Rule 12(b)(6) motion claim-by-claim: dismisses Fifth, Sixth, and Fourteenth Amendment and official-capacity claims for failure to state a claim while denying qualified immunity and preserving a plausibly-pled First Amendment claim.

“For the reasons stated below, I grant Defendants' motion in part and deny it in part. ... I grant Defendants' motion to dismiss Quinn's claims under the Fifth, Sixth, and Fourteenth Amendments, and his claims against Defendants in their official capacities, for failure to state a claim. ... I conclude Defendants are not entitled to qualified immunity as to Quinn's First Amendment claim and deny the motion as to that claim.”

Procedural preferences

Will grant a defendant's motion to exclude the plaintiffs' evidence and permit additional briefing even while denying the defendant's summary-judgment motion and letting the case proceed.

“I grant the motion of Defendant the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction to exclude evidence offered by Plaintiffs Carla Good and Suzanne Leedy, as well as the parties' motions for leave to file additional briefing. (Doc. Nos. 80, 83, and 85).”

Signed rulings

A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.

Quinn v. Doe
Motions to dismiss (defendant) Granted in part

“For the reasons stated below, I grant Defendants' motion in part and deny it in part. ... I grant Defendants' motion to dismiss Quinn's claims under the Fifth, Sixth, and Fourteenth Amendments, and his claims against Defendants in their official capacities, for failure to state a claim. ... I conclude Defendants are not entitled to qualified immunity as to Quinn's First Amendment claim and deny the motion as to that claim.”

Motion to amend (plaintiff) Granted

“The motion to amend is granted.”

United States v. Darst
Motions to dismiss (defendant) Denied

“For the reasons stated above, I conclude Defendant Gregory A. Darst fails to show he is entitled to relief under Rule 12(b)(6) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure and deny his motion to dismiss. (Doc. No. 5).”

Rasawehr v. Grey
Summary judgment (defendant) Granted

“For the reasons stated above, I grant Defendants' motion for summary judgment on all claims. (Doc. No. 45).”

Good v. Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction
Summary judgment (defendant) Denied

“I deny Defendant's motion for summary judgment. (Doc. No. 72).”

Motion to exclude (defendant) Granted

“I grant the motion of Defendant the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction to exclude evidence offered by Plaintiffs Carla Good and Suzanne Leedy, as well as the parties' motions for leave to file additional briefing. (Doc. Nos. 80, 83, and 85).”

Kimble v. Swanton Police Department, et al.
Motions to compel (plaintiff) Denied

“Therefore, I deny Kimble's motion to compel. (Doc. No. 4).”

Lambright v. New Age Dome Construction, LLC, et al.
Motion for leave (defendant) Denied

“I deny the motion of Defendants New Age Dome Construction, LLC, and John Johnson for leave to file a second motion for summary judgment. (Doc. No. 63).”

United States v. Ricardo Gibson
Motions to dismiss (defendant) Denied

“For the reasons set forth above, I deny Gibson's motion to suppress and his motion to dismiss. (Doc. Nos. 23 and 24).”

United States v. Avi Jitendrakumar Patel
Motion for reconsideration (defendant) Denied

“Patel's disagreement with my earlier decision is not a qualifying basis for reconsideration of that decision.”

Amato, et al. v. Montgomery, et al.
Motion for protective order (plaintiff) Denied

“Therefore, I deny their motion. (Doc. No. 57).”

Austin v. Corrections Center of Northwest Ohio

Prisoner in forma pauperis 42 U.S.C. 1983 complaint screened and dismissed under 28 U.S.C. 1915(e)(2)(B) and 1915A: 'Plaintiff's motion to proceed in forma pauperis in this matter, (Doc. No. 2), is granted, and for the reasons stated above, his complaint is dismissed pursuant to 28 U.S.C. 1915(e)(2)(B) and 1915A.' No adversary motion ruled on; excluded from stats.

Manning v. Beachump

Prisoner three-strikes screening under 28 U.S.C. 1915(g): 'Manning's motion to proceed without prepayment of fees and costs in this case is denied, (Doc. No. 2), and this action is dismissed under the three-strikes rule set out in 28 U.S.C. 1915(g).' No adversary motion ruled on; excluded from stats.

Kimble v. Swanton Police Department, et al.

Sua sponte dismissal for want of prosecution after court mail was returned undeliverable and plaintiff failed his affirmative duty to update his address: 'I conclude this failure demonstrates a lack of prosecution and dismiss this case without prejudice.' Not a ruling on any adversary motion; excluded from stats.

Caseload & timing

From public federal docket records for this judge.

Median case duration in the sampled dockets: 1038 days (N = 1).

A 2021-2024 sample of Judge Helmick's Toledo docket includes federal criminal cases, DePuy ASR hip-implant multidistrict-litigation transfers, prisoner and employment civil-rights suits, and federal tax-collection actions. Criminal and multidistrict-litigation matters are overrepresented, so the sample does not describe his full civil caseload.

Put Judge Helmick's record to work

Ezel drafts and answers grounded in this exact profile: how Judge Helmick actually rules, not a generic AI guess.

Opens in Ezel Pro. Every answer is grounded in Judge Helmick's own signed orders and cites them.