Arthur James Schwab
How Judge Schwab rules, drawn from 41 signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
About Judge Schwab
Arthur J. Schwab is a judge of the United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania. Appointed by President George W. Bush, Judge Schwab received a commission on September 17, 2002. Judge Schwab assumed senior status on January 1, 2018.
Judge Schwab's practices and standing orders
Rules for cases before Judge Schwab, 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.
Key rules
Contacting chambers
Submit communications by motion with a proposed order.
“Communication with the Court shall be in the form of motions, accompanied by a proposed order specifying the relief requested.”
Filing
All CM/ECF filings must be searchable.
“All documents filed on CM/ECF must be searchable.”
Motions
Moving and responsive briefs are limited to 15 pages without leave.
“There is a page restriction of fifteen (15) pages for all moving and responsive briefs filed with the Court”
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).
Signed rulings
A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.
“IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that the decision of the Bankruptcy Court is AFFIRMED.”
“the Court will grant plaintiffs Petition and Amended Petition for attorney’s fees in the total amount of $7,565.00, under the EAJA (doc. nos. 19 and 24), based upon an expenditure of 44.5 hours at the rate of $170.00 per hour.”
“For the reasons discussed above, the Defendant’s motion to dismiss will be GRANTED.”
Schwab addressed the effect of Blakely on the federal Sentencing Guidelines while imposing sentence; the writing does not resolve a party motion included in this profile.
“it is hereby ORDERED that Fer-rone’s Emergency Motion to Stay Sale Pending Appeal is DENIED.”
“this Court will grant plaintiffs motion (doc. no. 35) to the extent that defendant violated the FDCPA as a matter of law.”
“The Court will deny defendant’s motion for summary judgment (doc. no. 39).”
“the Order by the Bankruptcy Judge on the Motion to Compel Abandonment will be AFFIRMED.”
“the Court hereby AFFIRMS the June 4, 2015 Order of the Bankruptcy Court denying the Motion to Dismiss.”
“Defendants’ Motions to Dismiss (Doc. Nos. 6 and 8) will be GRANTED in PART and DENIED in PART.”
“The motion for summary judgment by plaintiff, Countryway Insurance Company (doc. no. 18) will be DENIED.”
“The motion for summary judgment by defendant, Dustin C. Sams’, (doc. no. 28) will be GRANTED.”
“The motion for summary judgment by defendants, Walter C. Slaugenhoup and Walter P. Slaugenhoup (doc. no. 31) will be GRANTED.”
“Thus, the decision of the Bankruptcy Court will be REVERSED. The case will be REMANDED to the Bankruptcy Court for further proceedings consistent with this Opinion.”
“For the reasons that follow, the decision of the Bankruptcy Court will be affirmed.”
Caseload & timing
From public federal docket records for this judge.
The surviving 20-case metadata cohort consists entirely of terminated matters filed from September through December 2002. It is an archival slice rather than a career-wide caseload estimate.
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 United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania, not for Judge Schwab: 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 | 1,965 | 6.5 months |
| Closed with no court action | 665 | 4.6 months |
| Closed before pretrial | 659 | 5.1 months |
| Closed during or after pretrial | 632 | 8.4 months |
| Closed during trial | 9 | not reported |
| 12 months ending | Cases closed | Median time |
|---|---|---|
| Sep 2025 | 1,965 | 6.5 months |
| Sep 2024 | 1,871 | 6.3 months |
| Sep 2023 | 2,021 | 5.9 months |
| Sep 2022 | 1,988 | 6.5 months |
| Sep 2021 | 1,891 | 6.3 months |
| Sep 2020 | 1,939 | 5.6 months |
| Sep 2019 | 1,766 | 6.9 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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