Kimberly E. West
How Judge West rules, drawn from 11 signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
About Judge West
Kimberly E. West joined the United States Magistrate Judge bench in the Eastern District of Oklahoma part time in 2000 and became a full time magistrate judge in 2005. She later continued to serve on recall. Before her federal appointment, she practiced law and served on Oklahoma's Workers' Compensation Court.
Judge West's practices and standing orders
The court's website lists no individual practices or standing orders of Judge West'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).
How Judge West decides
Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
What persuades
In Social Security appeals, an ALJ who leans on a non-examining medical consultant's paper review to discount a treating or examining source's specific functional findings, rather than doing the ALJ's own weighing of the record, draws reversal.
“Dr. Devore was utilized to discount subjective complaints and the treating physician's opinion - matters in the ALJ's purview.”
When a consultative examiner documents functional limitations in concentration and persistence, even while flagging his own test scores as being of doubtful validity because of the claimant's agitation during testing, non-examining reviewers cannot simply reject those findings as encroaching on issues reserved to the agency.
“The non-examining reviewers' conclusions do not rescue the ALJ's deficient decision. They only reject Dr. Spray's opinions because they invade upon matters reserved to Defendant.”
Procedural preferences
On a motion to dismiss where a complaint states a plausible claim but is too disorganized to give a defendant fair notice of the theories being pursued, the remedy is an order for a more definite statement and a chance to replead, not dismissal.
“if the Petition meets the plausibility standard but does not apprise the opposing party of the claims being brought the remedy is not dismissal but rather the granting of a motion for more definite statement”
When a related case pending in another federal district raises the same preclusion question as a settlement she approved, she defers to that court to decide the settlement's preclusive effect rather than asserting her own retained jurisdiction to resolve it first.
“the second subsequent court should be permitted to determine whether a prior judgment has preclusive effect over the claims asserted in the case pending before it”
Signed rulings
A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.
“Defendant Carbonyx, Inc.'s Motion for Summary Judgment (Docket Entry #38) is hereby GRANTED as to Lee's strict products liability claim against Defendant Carbonyx, Inc. only. The remainder of the Motion is hereby DENIED.”
“the Magistrate Judge recommends that this action be, in all respects, dismissed.”
“the Magistrate Judge recommends for the above and foregoing reasons, the ruling of the Commissioner of Social Security Administration should be REVERSED and the matter REMANDED for further proceedings.”
“Default judgment be entered against Defendant Thomas Ralph Dodson, Sr. and in favor of the United States in the amount of $77,369.06 plus interest and statutory additions accruing after December 18, 2017”
“Summary judgment be entered in favor of the United States and against Defendants Thomas Ralph Dodson, Jr. and Madison Shar Dodson in that the transfer of 1811 West Ardmore Avenue in Sulphur, Oklahoma (the Property) was fraudulently made and is, therefore, avoided.”
“the ruling of the Commissioner of Social Security Administration should be and is REVERSED and the case is REMANDED to Defendant for further proceedings consistent with this Opinion and Order.”
“Settlement Class Members, Chieftain Royalty Company and Castlerock Resources, Inc.'s Motion to Exercise Exclusive and Continuing Jurisdiction to Enforce, Construe, and Interpret the Cecil Settlement Agreement and Request for Hearing (Docket Entry #293) is hereby DENIED.”
“the ruling of the Commissioner of Social Security Administration should be and is AFFIRMED.”
“the Magistrate Judge recommends for the above and foregoing reasons, the ruling of the Commissioner of Social Security Administration should be REVERSED and the case be REMANDED for further proceedings.”
“Defendants' Motion to Dismiss or in the Alternative Motion for More Definite Statement (Docket Entry #6) is hereby GRANTED in part and DENIED in part. The Court grants the motion to dismiss with respect to Defendant Ardmore City Schools Board of Education. The Court grants the motion for a more definite statement and denies the motion to dismiss against Defendant Carter School District No. 19.”
“the ruling of the Commissioner of Social Security Administration should be and is AFFIRMED.”
“United States Magistrate Judge Kimberly E. West entered a Findings and Recommendation (F&R) [CR Doc. 26], recommending that the Defendant's motion to suppress be denied. Defendant objected to the F&R. This court affirmed and adopted the F&R.”
Caseload & timing
From public federal docket records for this judge.
- The caseload sample is dominated by consent Social Security disability appeals and other consent civil litigation, including insurance and contract disputes, employment claims, prisoner and civil-rights suits, tax-lien enforcement, and class-settlement administration.
- A smaller portion involves referred criminal work such as search-warrant applications, detention matters, and suppression motions.
- West continues to hear cases on recall.
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 | 10 | 5 |
| Sep 2022 | 20 | 4 |
| Mar 2022 | 5 | 2 |
| Sep 2021 | 0 | 2 |
| Mar 2021 | 0 | 2 |
| Sep 2020 | 0 | 2 |
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 Eastern District of Oklahoma, not for Judge West: 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 | 329 | 7.8 months |
| Closed with no court action | 12 | 2.4 months |
| Closed before pretrial | 309 | 7.7 months |
| Closed during or after pretrial | 3 | not reported |
| Closed during trial | 5 | not reported |
| 12 months ending | Cases closed | Median time |
|---|---|---|
| Sep 2025 | 329 | 7.8 months |
| Sep 2024 | 375 | 9.6 months |
| Sep 2023 | 327 | 13.5 months |
| Sep 2022 | 290 | 15.4 months |
| Sep 2021 | 326 | 13 months |
| Sep 2020 | 325 | 12.6 months |
| Sep 2019 | 370 | 11.8 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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