Terence P. Kemp
How Judge Kemp rules, drawn from 6 signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
About Judge Kemp
Terence P. Kemp serves as a recalled United States Magistrate Judge for the Southern District of Ohio. He joined the bench in 1987 and retired from active service in 2017. He earned degrees from Brown University and the University of Virginia School of Law.
Judge Kemp's practices and standing orders
The court's website lists no individual practices or standing orders of Judge Kemp's own (checked October 9, 2026), so the court's local rules and general orders are the place to look (court page ↗).
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 Kemp decides
Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
What persuades
In a default-judgment dispute, Kemp found the complaint did not allege facts supporting liability against Timothy Blanton.
“The primary problem with the motion for default judgment is that the complaint does not, on its face, allege any facts under which Timothy Blanton can be held liable.”
In an unopposed EAJA fee application, Kemp found that the Commissioner could not meet the burden of showing substantial justification without an opposing memorandum.
“In the absence of an opposing memorandum, the Commissioner cannot satisfy that burden.”
Procedural preferences
In a discovery dispute involving Mr. Chiles, Kemp found additional interrogatories barred without stipulation or leave of court and noted no prior document-production request before the motion to compel.
“additional interrogatories, without stipulation or leave of court, are prohibited under Rule 33. Further, nowhere in the record is there any indication that Mr. Chiles previously requested document production prior to filing the motion to compel.”
Signed rulings
A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.
“Plaintiff has filed an application for entry of default against defendant Timothy W. Blanton. For the following reasons, it will be recommended that the application for entry of default be denied.”
“Mr. Chiles' Motion to Compel (doc. #17) is DENIED.”
“Mr. Chiles' motion for appointment of counsel (doc. #16) is GRANTED conditioned upon the issuance of a final order by the District Judge overruling the motion for summary judgment.”
“the Court RECOMMENDS that the Defendants' Motion to Dismiss or For Partial Summary Judgment (doc. #20) be GRANTED”
“the Second Motion for Summary Judgment (doc. #24) be DENIED”
“It is therefore recommended that Plaintiff's application for attorney fees under the Equal Access to Justice Act (‘EAJA’) (Doc. 24) be granted and that Plaintiff be awarded the sum of $3,399.43 to be paid to counsel unless there is an offsetting debt owed to the United States.”
The district court adopted Kemp's screening recommendation in full and dismissed a pro se civil-rights complaint against a public defender for failure to state a claim. Because the matter arose from screening rather than a party motion, it is excluded from the motion statistics.
“the Court OVERRULES Plaintiff’s statement of errors (Doc. 13) and DIRECTS the Clerk to enter judgment in favor of the Defendant Commissioner of Social Security.”
“the Court SUSTAINS Plaintiff’s statement of errors and REMANDS this case to the Commissioner pursuant to 42 U.S.C. §405(g), sentence four.”
“it is recommended that the Court SUSTAIN Plaintiff’s statement of errors and REMAND the case to the Commissioner for further proceedings”
Caseload & timing
From public federal docket records for this judge.
The sampled recall-era cases, filed from 2019 through 2022, are predominantly Social Security disability appeals in which the parties consented to Kemp's final jurisdiction. Earlier cases from 1984 through 1991 show a broader mix including product liability, employment and prisoner civil rights, patent, motor-vehicle injury, and negotiable-instrument disputes.
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 | 0 |
| Report | Motions over six months | Cases over three years |
|---|---|---|
| Mar 2026 | 0 | 0 |
| Sep 2025 | 0 | 0 |
| Mar 2025 | 0 | 0 |
| Sep 2024 | 0 | 0 |
| Mar 2024 | 0 | 0 |
| Sep 2023 | 0 | 0 |
| Mar 2023 | 0 | 0 |
| Sep 2022 | 0 | 0 |
| Mar 2022 | 0 | 0 |
| Sep 2021 | 0 | 0 |
| Mar 2021 | 0 | 0 |
| Sep 2020 | 0 | 0 |
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 Kemp: 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).
Draft for Judge Kemp with the record in hand
Ezel grounds your drafting and research in this profile: what has persuaded Judge Kemp, and what has not, cited to the signed orders.
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