Algenon Lamont Marbley
How Judge Marbley rules, drawn from 30 signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
About Judge Marbley
Algenon L. Marbley is a judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Ohio. Appointed by President William J. Clinton, Judge Marbley received a commission on November 7, 1997.
Judge Marbley's practices and standing orders
Rules for cases before Judge Marbley, 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.
- Civil Trial Scheduling Order and Procedures for Trial Preparation ↗
- Standing Order on Opportunities for Less-Experienced Attorneys ↗
- Criminal Trial Procedures ↗
- Order Setting Dates for Criminal Trials ↗
- Pretrial Order ↗
Key rules
Trial
A civil trial continuance requires an immediate written motion supported by an affidavit showing exceptional circumstances.
“written motion supported by an affidavit demonstrating exceptional circumstances”
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).
- General Order 24-02 In Re: Procedures for Requesting, Filing, and Management of Highly Sensitive Documents ↗
- U.S. District Court General Order No. 24-05 ↗
- General Order 23-03 In Re: Automatic Sealing and Procedures for Unsealing of Applications for Search Warrants, Pen Registers, Trap and Trace Devices, or Court Orders Under 18 U.S.C. § 2703(d). ↗
How Judge Marbley decides
Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
Procedural preferences
Applied Rule 45’s attendance-fee requirement to a corporate deposition subpoena even though the witness could appear by video; the rule text did not distinguish remote attendance.
“Although attendance over Zoom presumably would be virtual, the text of the Rule does not distinguish between virtual and in-person attendance.”
Quashed a broad nonparty subpoena served only three business days before the requested deposition because that time and burden were unreasonable.
“Here, three business days does not grant Medical Mutual a reasonable time to comply, and the subpoena as issued would subject Medical Mutual to an unreasonable burden.”
Cautions
In N.R.’s trafficking suit, Marbley dismissed the amended complaint without prejudice because pleading deficiencies left the statutory claim and jurisdiction over several hotel defendants uncertain. He allowed another amendment.
“Because the Amended Complaint is deficient, the Court is not assured that Plaintiff has stated a CAVRA claim and thus cannot be assured that it has personal jurisdiction over the non-Red Roof Defendants.”
Signed rulings
A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.
“the motion to dismiss, Doc. No. 6, is meritorious and is therefore GRANTED. The Clerk shall enter FINAL JUDGMENT dismissing this case.”
“Her motion to recuse, Doc. No. 12, is therefore DENIED.”
“Plaintiff's motion for a protection hearing and for leave to amend the complaint, Doc. No. 15, is therefore DENIED.”
“her motion, Doc. No. 14, is nevertheless GRANTED.”
“Claims I, II, III, IV, V, and VI of Mitchell's Amended Complaint are DISMISSED without prejudice to allow Mitchell to plead his claims under the OPLA.”
“the Court ADOPTS the Report and Recommendation and GRANTS defendants ... motion for summary judgment (doc. 29).”
“the Court GRANTS IN PART and DENIES IN PART Defendants' Motion.”
“this Court GRANTS Plaintiff's Motion and STAYS consideration of Defendant's motion for summary judgment.”
“Defendant's Motion [#61] is DENIED.”
Settlement-conditional dismissal: 'This matter is now terminated by settlement... dismissed without prejudice as to all claims, until the parties file the above-referenced Dismissal Order dismissing this matter with prejudice.' Court retains jurisdiction over settlement. This dismissal did not resolve a litigated motion.
“this Court GRANTS Plaintiff's Motion to Dismiss without Prejudice. This case is DISMISSED.”
“the Jefferson County Defendants' Motion for Judgment on the Pleadings on Plaintiff's Second Amended Complaint (ECF No. 70) is GRANTED IN PART AND DENIED IN PART”
“Plaintiff's Motion for Partial Summary Judgment (ECF No. 74) is DENIED”
“COUNT II - Trespass: GRANTED in part, DENIED in part for Defendants; DENIED for Plaintiffs. ... Defendant Gulfport ... Motion for Summary Judgment for all damages prior to May 17, 2021 is GRANTED. ... COUNT VI - Breach of Contract: ... Defendant[] Rice Drilling D, LLC's ... Motion is GRANTED”
“COUNT I - Declaratory Judgment: DENIED for all parties. ... COUNTS III & IV - Conversion & Unjust Enrichment: DENIED for Plaintiffs ... COUNT VI - Breach of Contract: Plaintiffs' Motion is DENIED; ... Affirmative defenses: Plaintiffs' Motion is DENIED as to all affirmative defenses.”
“this Court hereby ADOPTS the R&R (ECF No. 5-1). Accordingly, Plaintiff's Motion for Preliminary Injunction (ECF No. 3) is DENIED. ... The rest of his claims are DISMISSED.”
Caseload & timing
From public federal docket records for this judge.
Samples from 2018-2019, 2021-2022, and June 2026 show a varied civil and criminal docket, including prisoner civil-rights and habeas matters, employment cases, benefits disputes, contracts, product liability, copyright, consumer credit, accessibility, premises liability, wage-and-hour claims, and federal criminal cases. The samples are illustrative rather than random.
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 | 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 | 46 |
| Report | Motions over six months | Cases over three years |
|---|---|---|
| Mar 2026 | 0 | 46 |
| Sep 2025 | 0 | 33 |
| Mar 2025 | 0 | 22 |
| Sep 2024 | 0 | 19 |
| Mar 2024 | 1 | 20 |
| Sep 2023 | 0 | 23 |
| Mar 2023 | 0 | 20 |
| Sep 2022 | 0 | 17 |
| Mar 2022 | 0 | 13 |
| Sep 2021 | 0 | 17 |
| Mar 2021 | 0 | 18 |
| Sep 2020 | 0 | 15 |
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 U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio, not for Judge Marbley: 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 | 2,199 | 9 months |
| Closed with no court action | 1,037 | 7.5 months |
| Closed before pretrial | 810 | 7.2 months |
| Closed during or after pretrial | 343 | 15.2 months |
| Closed during trial | 9 | not reported |
| 12 months ending | Cases closed | Median time |
|---|---|---|
| Sep 2025 | 2,199 | 9 months |
| Sep 2024 | 2,137 | 8.2 months |
| Sep 2023 | 2,153 | 9.7 months |
| Sep 2022 | 2,311 | 12.6 months |
| Sep 2021 | 2,287 | 10.4 months |
| Sep 2020 | 2,012 | 9.7 months |
| Sep 2019 | 5,561 | 41.6 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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