Jeffrey L. Cureton
How Judge Cureton rules, drawn from 34 signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
About Judge Cureton
Jeffrey L. Cureton has served as a United States Magistrate Judge in the Fort Worth Division of the Northern District of Texas since 2010. He earned his undergraduate and law degrees from Baylor University and previously clerked for District Judge Eldon B. Mahon.
Judge Cureton's practices and standing orders
Rules for cases before Judge Cureton, 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 electronically and provide a judge's copy of appendices and filings over fifty pages.
“he requires electronic filing and a judge's copy of each appendix and any filing more than 50 pages in length.”
Motions
Email a Word proposed order with every motion.
“All motions require a proposed order that must be emailed to [email protected] and must be in Word format (not PDF).”
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 Cureton decides
Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
Procedural preferences
In Richmond v. ADL Auto Sales, he recommended dismissing the buyer's TILA claim with prejudice after finding that the dealer had made the required disclosures; the district court adopted his recommendation.
“Because ADL Auto Sales properly made the relevant TILA disclosures, the Court FINDS and CONCLUDES that Plaintiff has failed to state a claim under the TILA and such claims against Defendant should be DISMISSED WITH PREJUDICE.”
A preliminary-injunction request must establish likely success on the merits; he recommended denial without reaching every remaining factor after the movant's federal claims failed at the pleading stage.
“It is further RECOMMENDED that Plaintiff's Motion for Preliminary Injunction [doc. 13] be DENIED as Plaintiff has, at the very least, failed to show a substantial likelihood of success on the merits as to his claims pursuant to the TILA and the FDCPA.”
In Evercare Protection v. Headstart Warranty Group, he struck three purported affirmative defenses that were contract-interpretation or denial theories while preserving a fourth construed as recoupment.
“Consequently, the Court GRANTS Plaintiff's Motion to Strike as to Defendant's fourth, sixth, seventh affirmative defenses. However, the Court DENIES Plaintiff's Motion to Strike as to Defendant's eighth affirmative defense.”
In a duty-to-defend dispute, he recommended denying partial summary judgment without prejudice as premature because discovery had not begun and the plaintiffs had since amended their complaint.
“Therefore, the Court finds that the Motion is premature.”
Signed rulings
A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.
“Defendant's Motion to Dismiss is thus GRANTED for lack of subject matter jurisdiction pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(1).”
“American's Motion to Dismiss is GRANTED ... It is further ORDERED that James's claim is DISMISSED without prejudice.”
“Topgolf's Motion is DENIED IN PART and GRANTED IN PART.”
“Judge Cureton's Recommendation is hereby ADOPTED, the Social Security Commissioner's final decision is AFFIRMED, and this action is DISMISSED.”
“the Court ADOPTS the reasoning in the Magistrate Judge's FCR. Accordingly, Plaintiff's claims against Bedford Police Department pending in this action are DISMISSED without prejudice.”
“It is therefore RECOMMENDED that that all of Plaintiff's claims be DISMISSED for lack of prosecution, without prejudice to being refiled. See Fed. R. Civ. P. 41(b).”
“For the reasons stated herein, the decision of the Administrative Law Judge (‘ALJ’) is AFFIRMED.”
“Therefore, the Court ADOPTS the reasoning in the Magistrate Judge's FCR and GRANTS the Motion to Dismiss. Accordingly, Plaintiff's claims against the above Defendants are DISMISSED without prejudice.”
“The Court GRANTS in part and DENIES in part Fort Worth ISD's 12 Motion for Summary Judgment. Davis's claims against Fort Worth ISD under Texas Labor Code Section 21 are hereby DISMISSED with prejudice. The remainder of Fort Worth ISD's Motion is hereby DENIED.”
“Having carefully considered the motion, response, reply, and applicable law, the Court recommends that Amazon's motion be DENIED.”
“Court will wholly ADOPT the reasoning in the Magistrate Judge's FCR (ECF No. 122) and OVERRULE Amazon's Partial Objections (ECF No. 124). As a result, the Court will GRANT Amazon's 97 Motion in part and DENY it in part.”
“The Court AFFIRMS the Magistrate Judge's FCR (ECF No. 10), ADOPTS its reasoning, and GRANTS Defendant's Motion to Dismiss (ECF No. 9).”
Caseload & timing
From public federal docket records for this judge.
Caseload is illustrative from the referral dockets read, not a complete enumeration. On a referral docket the case belongs to the district judge; the magistrate manages pretrial matters and issues recommendations the district judge then adopts or modifies.
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 | 1 |
| 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 Cureton: 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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