James Edgar Kinkeade
How Judge Kinkeade rules, drawn from 30 signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
About Judge Kinkeade
James E. Kinkeade is a judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas. Appointed by President George W. Bush, Judge Kinkeade received a commission on November 15, 2002.
Judge Kinkeade's practices and standing orders
Rules for cases before Judge Kinkeade, 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 attorney contact information under seal within 24 hours of appearing.
“This information is to be filed ‘Under Seal’ entitled ‘Attorney Contact Information’ with the Court within 24 hours of making an appearance.”
Motions
Email a proposed order with every motion in Word or WordPerfect.
“Proposed orders are required to be submitted with EVERY motion. The proposed order must be emailed, in Word or WordPerfect format”
Trial
Submit a pretrial order no later than fourteen days before trial unless the scheduling order sets another deadline.
“Judge Kinkeade requires parties to submit a pretrial order no later than fourteen (14) days before trial or the deadline set forth in the scheduling order of the case.”
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 Kinkeade decides
Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
What persuades
A party carrying the burden at summary judgment must connect the evidence to every essential element; an appraisal award alone does not establish liability on insurance claims.
“Plaintiff does not reference or analyze the elements of any of its four claims, and certainly fails to submit summary judgment evidence proving ‘beyond peradventure’ all of the essential elements of even one of these claims.”
In Smith v. City of Dallas, Kinkeade adopted the magistrate judge's recommendation after reviewing the objections, granted the city's summary-judgment motion, and dismissed the plaintiff's claims with prejudice.
“Defendant City of Dallas's Motion for Summary Judgment, Doc. 49, is GRANTED, and all of Plaintiff's claims are DISMISSED WITH PREJUDICE.”
In FleetPride v. McClaskey, he denied jurisdictional discovery after finding that the plaintiff had not made the required showing on the motion, while extending a restraining order for three defendants and dissolving it for two others.
“for the purposes of the Motion for Leave ONLY, Plaintiff has failed to make the required showing for jurisdictional discovery.”
Procedural preferences
In Lamont v. Assaf, Kinkeade dismissed the claims against Van Sciver without prejudice for lack of personal jurisdiction while denying another defendant's dismissal motion.
“The Court therefore GRANTS Defendant Ethan Van Sciver's motion to dismiss [Dkt. No. 19] to the extent that the claims against him are dismissed without prejudice for lack of personal jurisdiction”
In Certain Underwriters at Lloyd's v. Moral Transportation, Kinkeade denied the plaintiff's default-judgment motion without prejudice and gave defendant Tekle thirty days to answer or file another response.
“Plaintiff's ‘Motion for Entry of Default Judgment Against Defendants’ (ECF No. 18) is DENIED without prejudice, and Defendant Tekle has 30 days from this Order's date to file his answer, motion to dismiss, motion to set aside the Clerk's entry of default, or a 1404(a) motion to transfer venue.”
In an unopposed summary judgment motion, the court reviewed the record and governing law before granting judgment on a workplace injury claim; the lack of a response alone did not decide the motion.
“the Court is not permitted ‘to enter a “default” summary judgment.’”
Cautions
In Turner v. Director, Texas Department of Criminal Justice, Kinkeade denied the state prisoner's second habeas ground with prejudice as time-barred after adopting the magistrate judge's recommendation; he dismissed the first ground as moot.
“The Petition for a Writ of Habeas Corpus by a Person in State Custody, received on December 23, 2019 (doc. 3), is DENIED with prejudice as barred by the statute of limitations as to the petitioner's second ground for relief.”
Signed rulings
A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.
“The Court grants the Motion to Dismiss, denies as futile the Plaintiff's Opposed Motion for Leave to File Amended Complaint (as to which the Court therefore need not wait for a response), and declines to exercise supplemental jurisdiction over the state law claims.”
“The Court therefore GRANTS Defendant Ethan Van Sciver's motion to dismiss [Dkt. No. 19] to the extent that the claims against him are dismissed without prejudice for lack of personal jurisdiction”
“the Court DENIES the motion to dismiss filed by Defendant Ali ‘Dean’ Assaf a/k/a ‘DA Talk’ [Dkt. No. 26].”
“Defendant City of Dallas's Motion for Summary Judgment, Doc. 49, is GRANTED, and all of Plaintiff's claims are DISMISSED WITH PREJUDICE.”
“the Court OVERRULES Defendants' Objections [Dkt. No. 38] and DENIES Defendants' Motion to Partially Dismiss Plaintiff's First Amended Complaint and Motion for a More Definite Statement [Dkt. No. 27].”
“DENIES Defendants' Motion to Partially Dismiss Plaintiff's First Amended Complaint and Motion for a More Definite Statement [Dkt. No. 27].”
“Plaintiff's ‘Motion for Entry of Default Judgment Against Defendants’ (ECF No. 18) is DENIED without prejudice, and Defendant Tekle has 30 days from this Order's date to file his answer, motion to dismiss, motion to set aside the Clerk's entry of default, or a 1404(a) motion to transfer venue.”
“the Respondent's Motion to Dismiss Turner's First Ground as Moot with Brief in Support, received on March 31, 2022 (doc. 15), is GRANTED, and the petitioner's first ground for relief is DISMISSED for lack of jurisdiction.”
“The Petition for a Writ of Habeas Corpus by a Person in State Custody, received on December 23, 2019 (doc. 3), is DENIED with prejudice as barred by the statute of limitations as to the petitioner's second ground for relief.”
“Because Plaintiff has sufficiently stated his claims, the Court DENIES Defendant’s Rule 12(b)(6) Motion to Dismiss.”
“The Court GRANTS General Binding’s Motion to Dismiss and DISMISSES all of Ms. Williams’s claims without prejudice. If she has a good faith basis to do so, Ms. Williams MAY FILE an amended pleading no later than fourteen days after the entry of this order.”
“Accordingly, the Court DENIES Plaintiff’s Motion to Enforce Appraisal Award and for Summary Judgment (the ‘Motion’) (Doc. No. 35).”
“Plaintiff’s Motion to Reconsider Judgment is DENIED.”
“Therefore, the Court DENIES Defendant OnAsset Intelligence, Inc.’s Motion for Partial Summary Judgment (Doc. No. 150).”
“the Court ACCEPTS the Findings, Conclusions, and Recommendation of the United States Magistrate Judge and GRANTS Plaintiff Scott Everett’s Motion for Default Judgment, (Dkt. No. 11).”
Caseload & timing
From public federal docket records for this judge.
Caseload mix is illustrative from the docket search sample, not an authoritative caseload denominator. The MDL dominance means a naive nature-of-suit count would massively over-weight product liability; this is a transferee-judge artifact, not his ordinary direct docket.
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 Northern District of Texas, not for Judge Kinkeade: 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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Ezel grounds your drafting and research in this profile: what has persuaded Judge Kinkeade, and what has not, cited to the signed orders.
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