Samuel Ray Cummings
How Judge Cummings rules, drawn from 26 signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
About Judge Cummings
Samuel Ray Cummings is a judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas. Appointed by President Ronald Reagan, Judge Cummings received a commission on December 9, 1987. Judge Cummings assumed senior status on December 31, 2014.
Judge Cummings's practices and standing orders
Rules for cases before Judge Cummings, 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 optional.
“Filing documents electronically is not mandatory.”
Motions
Motions are decided on briefs without a hearing unless the court orders one.
“Motions are decided on briefs without hearing, unless ordered by the Court.”
Conferences
No Rule 26(f) conference is required under the judge's scheduling order.
“By scheduling order, no Rule 26(f) conference is required.”
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 Cummings decides
Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
What persuades
ERISA benefit-denial review: where the plan vests the administrator with discretionary authority, he reviews only for abuse of discretion (Firestone deference): the claimant must show the denial was arbitrary or capricious on the administrative record. Treating-physician opinions get no special deference, and a 1132(a)(3) equitable claim is unavailable when a 1132(a)(1)(B) money-benefits remedy exists.
“To survive summary judgment, Plaintiff must demonstrate that a genuine dispute of material fact exists regarding whether Defendants' denial of his claim was arbitrary or capricious. ... Because a suit for monetary damages under section 1132(a)(1)(B) is available to Plaintiff, he cannot assert a separate ERISA claim under section 1132(a)(3) seeking the same relief.”
Signed rulings
A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.
The available text states that Cummings dismissed the action 'WITHOUT PREJUDICE for lack of jurisdiction' and that the order was entered by Senior Judge Sam R. Cummings on July 21, 2017; the order also addressed a motion for leave to file. The text does not reveal a clear contested party-motion outcome beyond the jurisdictional dismissal.
“Plaintiff's 25 Motion for Summary Judgment is DENIED and all claims asserted against Defendants are DISMISSED. (Ordered by Senior Judge Sam R Cummings on 3/28/2022)”
“Plaintiff's Motion for Summary Judgement, Doc. 25, should be DENIED and Defendants' Cross-Motion for Summary Judgment, Doc. 28, should be GRANTED.”
“Defendant John Cochran's Motion to Dismiss is hereby GRANTED and Plaintiff's claims against said Defendant are DISMISSED with prejudice.”
Cummings adopted an unobjected R&R after plain-error review and entered a limited scheduling order requiring the defendant to file a qualified-immunity motion under Rule 12(c) or Rule 56 by a set date, with discovery stayed pending that ruling. The order states that 'a defendant's entitlement to qualified immunity should be determined at the earliest possible stage of the litigation' and that a plaintiff 'must survive the... qualified immunity defense[] without any discovery' under Carswell v. Camp, 37 F.4th 1062.
“As a result, Plaintiff's Motion for Preliminary Injunction (Doc. 1) is DENIED.”
“It is therefore ORDERED that Plaintiff's motion for a preliminary injunction and temporary restraining order (Doc. 12) is DENIED.”
“Therefore, the Court ADOPTS the Report and Recommendation and the Motion to Withdraw Reference is GRANTED IN PART.”
“advising the Court that Petitioner’s habeas application should be dismissed without prejudice to Petitioner’s right to fully and properly exhaust his state remedies. ... For the reasons stated therein, the Court ORDERS that Petitioner’s habeas application be DISMISSED without prejudice.”
“It is therefore ORDERED that the Findings, Conclusions, and Recommendation are hereby ADOPTED as the findings and conclusions of the Court. For the reasons stated therein, the Court ORDERS that Petitioner's petition for a writ of habeas corpus be DISMISSED with prejudice as untimely.”
“Pursuant to Rule 22 of the Federal Rules of Appellate Procedure and 28 U.S.C. § 2253(c), this Court finds that a certificate of appealability is DENIED.”
“The Court should grant Respondent's motion to dismiss [Dkt. No. 17] and dismiss this action as time-barred”
“Movant's claim that counsel provided ineffective assistance by failing to file a notice of appeal is hereby DENIED and DISMISSED.”
“the Court ORDERS that Plaintiff's Motion to Proceed In Forma Pauperis is DENIED and her Motion for Appointment of Counsel is DENIED.”
“the Court all of Plaintiff's claims are DISMISSED WITHOUT PREJUDICE under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 41(b) and for lack of subject matter jurisdiction”
Caseload & timing
From public federal docket records for this judge.
- Senior-judge docket. Sampled enumeration (2022-2023) is almost entirely 28 U.S.C. 2255 motions to vacate ('<name> v. United States') that terminate within 1-12 days: consistent with administrative handling/transfer to the sentencing judge rather than contested adjudication.
- Contested civil matters (ERISA, prisoner 1983, insurance) are sparse and referred to magistrates (Toliver).
- His 2255 dockets carry no docket entries.
Pending matters in the official report
Judge Cummings was last listed in the Civil Justice Reform Act report as of March 31, 2025.
| 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 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 Cummings: 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).
Draft for Judge Cummings with the record in hand
Ezel grounds your drafting and research in this profile: what has persuaded Judge Cummings, and what has not, cited to the signed orders.
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