Donald C. Coggins Jr.
How Judge Coggins rules, drawn from 13 signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
About Judge Coggins
Donald Cecil Coggins, Jr. is a judge of the United States District Court for the District of South Carolina. Appointed by President Donald J. Trump, Judge Coggins received a commission on November 20, 2017.
Judge Coggins's practices and standing orders
Rules for cases before Judge Coggins, 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
Filing
File attachments to a motion or response within 24 hours; later attachments require an extension motion showing good cause.
“All attachments to a motion or response are expected to be filed within 24 hours of the filing of such motion or response.”
Discovery
Consult opposing counsel and hold a telephone conference with Judge Coggins before filing a discovery motion.
“no motions relating to discovery shall be filed until counsel have consulted and attempted to resolve the matter as required by Local Civil Rule 7.02 and have had a telephone conference with Judge Coggins”
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 Coggins decides
Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
What persuades
In Sunny Days, Coggins denied a trademark holder’s jurisdictional dismissal motion. Letters sent to the South Carolina toy maker and six retailers aimed to affect its sales there, supporting specific personal jurisdiction in that suit.
“Therefore, the Court finds that the extrajudicial enforcement efforts undertaken by Defendant are sufficient to establish specific personal jurisdiction.”
In a discovery dispute, the court distinguished factual business communications from requests for legal advice. Sending an existing factual document to counsel did not make it privileged.
“A party cannot make a pre-existing, non-privileged document or business email privileged by copying or forwarding it to counsel.”
Procedural preferences
In Glytec, Coggins enforced a licensing agreement’s jury waiver for claims tied to that agreement, while leaving a jury demand on the alternative unjust-enrichment claim. He also allowed both contract and unjust enrichment theories at the pleading stage.
“However, Plaintiff’s claim for unjust enrichment does not arise out of the Agreement, and accordingly, Defendant’s Motion to Strike is denied in part as to this claim.”
Cautions
In one traffic-stop case, the court found the government lacked reasonable suspicion to extend the stop and suppressed the evidence seized from the vehicle.
“Thus, the Court must suppress the evidence seized during the search of Defendant's vehicle.”
Signed rulings
A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.
“For the foregoing reasons, the Defendant's Motion to Dismiss, ECF No. 14, is DENIED.”
“For these reasons the SSA's decision is REVERSED and the Court remands this matter to the Commissioner pursuant to sentence four of 42 U.S.C. § 405(g).”
“For these reasons, Defendant's Motion to Suppress, ECF No. 43, is GRANTED”
“Based on the foregoing, the Court GRANTS IN PART and DENIES IN PART Plaintiff’s Motion to Compel [22] as set forth herein.”
“the Commissioner's decision is REVERSED and the Court remands this matter to the Commissioner pursuant to sentence four of 42 U.S.C. § 405(g).”
“the Court GRANTS Plaintiff's Motion for Temporary Restraining Order, ECF No. 5”
“Father's Emergency Verified Petition, ECF No. 1, is GRANTED as follows:”
“Plaintiff’s motion to be dismissed from this action with prejudice [68] is GRANTED.”
“Tri-County' Homes, Inc.’s motion for summary judgment and to dismiss Ms. Dorman from this case is GRANTED.”
“motion for summary judgment and to dismiss his co-defendants Mark, Christopher, and Paul from this case (which has also been construed as a motion for default judgment) is GRANTED.”
“Defendant’s Motion for Reconsideration or Clarification [52] is DENIED to the extent it seeks reconsideration and GRANTED IN PART AND DENIED IN PART to the extent it seeks clarification;”
“Defendant’s Motion to Dismiss [18] is DENIED;”
“Defendant’s Motion to Strike [19] is GRANTED IN PART AND DENIED IN PART.”
“Allied’s motion for judgment on the pleadings [20] is GRANTED.”
“Respondent’s motion [19] is GRANTED”
“the petition for writ of habeas corpus is DENIED, and the petition is DISMISSED without prejudice.”
Caseload & timing
From public federal docket records for this judge.
Median case duration in the sampled dockets: 212 days (N = 8).
Coggins's sampled civil caseload includes Social Security appeals, federal habeas, prisoner civil-rights cases, ADA and Title VII employment disputes, trade-secret matters, and mandamus petitions. Magistrate Judges Paige J. Gossett, Jacquelyn D. Austin, and Thomas E. Rogers III appear on referred or nondispositive matters.
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 | 1 |
| Report | Motions over six months | Cases over three years |
|---|---|---|
| Mar 2026 | 0 | 1 |
| Sep 2025 | 1 | 2 |
| Mar 2025 | 0 | 2 |
| Sep 2024 | 0 | 2 |
| Mar 2024 | 6 | 3 |
| Sep 2023 | 11 | 3 |
| Mar 2023 | 20 | 3 |
| Sep 2022 | 4 | 2 |
| 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 District of South Carolina, not for Judge Coggins: 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 | 2,805 | 7.8 months |
| Closed with no court action | 724 | 5.1 months |
| Closed before pretrial | 2,005 | 8.6 months |
| Closed during or after pretrial | 64 | 17.9 months |
| Closed during trial | 12 | 36 months |
| 12 months ending | Cases closed | Median time |
|---|---|---|
| Sep 2025 | 2,805 | 7.8 months |
| Sep 2024 | 5,800 | 12.2 months |
| Sep 2023 | 2,296 | 8.5 months |
| Sep 2022 | 2,364 | 9.8 months |
| Sep 2021 | 2,599 | 10 months |
| Sep 2020 | 2,190 | 10.1 months |
| Sep 2019 | 2,402 | 9.8 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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