Brian McKay
How Judge McKay rules, drawn from 39 signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
About Judge McKay
Brian McKay was sworn in as a United States Magistrate Judge in the Dallas Division of the Northern District of Texas in August 2024. He earned degrees from Baylor University, Sam Houston State University, and the University of Tulsa College of Law.
Judge McKay's practices and standing orders
Rules for cases before Judge McKay, 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
Electronic filing is allowed but not required.
“Filing by electronic means is permitted but not required.”
Filing
Paper copies of electronically filed documents are not required.
“Judge McKay does not require paper copies of electronically-filed documents.”
Motions
Confer meaningfully before filing a nondispositive motion to learn if it is opposed.
“Before filing a non-dispositive motion, the moving party’s counsel, or an unrepresented moving party, must meaningfully confer with the attorney for each party”
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).
- Special Order 19-2: Service, Access, and Management of Sealed Documents ↗
- Miscellaneous Order 61-1: Restrictions on Electronic Filing of Highly Sensitive Documents ↗
- Miscellaneous Order 61: Electronic Case Filing ↗
- Special Order 19-1: Second Amended Order Regarding Public Access to Certain Documents ↗
How Judge McKay decides
Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
What persuades
In GS Holistic's trademark case, Magistrate Judge McKay recommended default judgment against MZB Smoke and Hadi Bawa, with $37,500 in statutory damages, $402 in costs, injunctive relief, and destruction of infringing products.
“the undersigned RECOMMENDS that GS's motion for default judgment (Dkt. No. 19.) be GRANTED, and DEFAULT JUDGMENT be ENTERED in favor of GS against MZB and Bawa. The undersigned FURTHER RECOMMENDS the Court AWARD GS $37,500 in statutory damages and $402 in costs, GRANT GS's request for injunctive relief and GRANT GS's request of destruction of infringing products.”
Procedural preferences
In Davis's Title VII case against Irving Independent School District, Magistrate Judge McKay recommended granting the district's dismissal motion while allowing Davis 21 days after adoption to amend. He recommended dismissal with prejudice if Davis did not amend within the allowed time.
“the undersigned RECOMMENDS that IISD's Motion to Dismiss be GRANTED, that Davis be given an opportunity to file an amended complaint within 21 days of the District Judge's acceptance of these findings ... and that Davis's claims be dismissed with prejudice if he fails to file an amended complaint within the time allowed.”
Signed rulings
A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.
“the undersigned RECOMMENDS that GS's motion for default judgment (Dkt. No. 19.) be GRANTED, and DEFAULT JUDGMENT be ENTERED in favor of GS against MZB and Bawa. The undersigned FURTHER RECOMMENDS the Court AWARD GS $37,500 in statutory damages and $402 in costs, GRANT GS's request for injunctive relief and GRANT GS's request of destruction of infringing products.”
“The Court should DISMISS Pate's claims challenging his underlying conviction in the Petition for Writ of Habeas Corpus Under 28 U.S.C. 2241 ... without prejudice for lack of jurisdiction. The Court should DISMISS Pate's claim regarding the deprivation of his FSA benefits without prejudice for failure to exhaust available remedies.”
“Ocwen's Motion for Attorneys' Fees and Costs (Dkt. No. 43) should be GRANTED, and the Court should award Ocwen $21,748.00 in attorney and paralegal fees and $402.00 in court costs, for a total of $22,150.00.”
“the undersigned RECOMMENDS that IISD's Motion to Dismiss be GRANTED, that Davis be given an opportunity to file an amended complaint within 21 days of the District Judge's acceptance of these findings ... and that Davis's claims be dismissed with prejudice if he fails to file an amended complaint within the time allowed.”
McKay authored this FCR as the referred magistrate on Judge Jane Boyle's docket in a pro se prisoner case automatically referred under Special Order 3-251 and transferred to him under Special Order 3-354 on August 23, 2024. The district judge adopted the recommendation on October 16, 2024 and dismissed the case through a sua sponte Rule 41(b) disposition. Verbatim disposition: "Based on the relevant filings and applicable law, the Court should DISMISS this civil rights action without prejudice under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 41(b) for failure to prosecute or follow orders of the Court."
McKay authored this FCR as the referred magistrate on Judge Ed Kinkeade's docket in a pro se prisoner civil-rights case transferred under Special Order 3-354. The district judge adopted the recommendation on October 27, 2025 and entered judgment dismissing the case without prejudice under the PLRA three-strikes rule, 28 U.S.C. 1915(g). Verbatim disposition: "Based on the relevant filings and applicable law, the Court should summarily DISMISS this action without prejudice as barred by the "three-strikes" rule of 28 U.S.C. § 1915(g) unless Turner timely pays the full filing fee."
McKay authored this FCR as the referred magistrate on Judge Ed Kinkeade's docket in a pro se prisoner civil-rights case automatically referred under Special Order 3-251. The district judge adopted the recommendation on June 16, 2025. Verbatim disposition: "This action should be dismissed without prejudice pursuant to Fed. R. Civ. P. 41(b) for failure to prosecute and follow court orders."
McKay authored this FCR as the referred magistrate on Judge Brantley Starr's docket in a pro se prisoner civil-rights case transferred under Special Order 3-354. The district judge adopted the recommendation on January 8, 2026. Verbatim disposition: "If Plaintiff fails to come into compliance within the 14-day period during which Plaintiff may make objections to this recommendation, the undersigned recommends that this action be DISMISSED without prejudice pursuant to Fed. R. Civ. P. 41(b) for failure to prosecute and follow orders of the court."
“As explained below, Abor has not established federal subject matter jurisdiction, so the Court should sua sponte dismiss this case without prejudice, and Judge Russell's Motion to Dismiss (Dkt. No. 8) should be denied as moot.”
“Construing her letter as a motion for temporary restraining order (‘TRO’) under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 65, the undersigned recommends that it be DENIED.”
“The undersigned recommends that Plaintiff's motion to reconsider the denial of her motion for protective order (Dkt. No. 26) be DENIED.”
McKay authored this FCR as the referred magistrate on Judge Brantley Starr's docket after an automatic referral under Special Order 3-251. He recommended sua sponte dismissal for lack of subject-matter jurisdiction and failure to timely serve under Rule 4(m). The docket also records McKay as the signer of the October 6, 2025 order accepting the findings, conclusions, and recommendation. Verbatim disposition: "This action should be DISMISSED without prejudice for lack of subject matter jurisdiction and pursuant to Rule 4(m)."
“RECOMMENDS that the District Judge GRANT Defendant RISD's 12(b)(6) motion (Dkt. No. 28), DISMISS Williams's claims with prejudice, and DENY Plaintiff Williams's motion for leave to file a second amended complaint, (Dkt. No. 39).”
“DENY Plaintiff Williams's motion for leave to file a second amended complaint, (Dkt. No. 39).”
Caseload & timing
From public federal docket records for this judge.
The sampled cases provide a limited view of McKay's caseload. Criminal-duty matters often close within days, while the sampled Social Security appeals were filed in late 2025 or 2026 and remain pending.
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 |
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 Northern District of Texas, not for Judge McKay: 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 | 4,103 | 5.9 months |
| Closed with no court action | 829 | 4 months |
| Closed before pretrial | 3,228 | 6.3 months |
| Closed during or after pretrial | 11 | 16.1 months |
| Closed during trial | 35 | 19.3 months |
| 12 months ending | Cases closed | Median time |
|---|---|---|
| Sep 2025 | 4,103 | 5.9 months |
| Sep 2024 | 3,648 | 5.6 months |
| Sep 2023 | 3,808 | 6.5 months |
| Sep 2022 | 8,698 | 56 months |
| Sep 2021 | 6,094 | 19.4 months |
| Sep 2020 | 6,294 | 13.3 months |
| Sep 2019 | 3,367 | 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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