Ricardo H. Hinojosa
Court record, service history and public docket data for Judge Hinojosa.
Judge Hinojosa no longer sits on this court. This profile is preserved as a historical record of how they ruled here.
About Judge Hinojosa
Ricardo H. Hinojosa received a commission as a judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas on May 5, 1983, following appointment by President Ronald Reagan. He served as the court’s chief judge from 2009 to 2016 and assumed senior status on May 21, 2025. The court lists him on inactive senior status effective October 1, 2025.
How Judge Hinojosa decides
Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
Procedural preferences
In Viera v. Univision, he denied the defendant's first summary-judgment motion and said he would issue a docket control order. He later granted a renewed summary-judgment motion after further proceedings.
“The Court addresses Deft's Motion for Summary Judgment. Arguments of counsel. The Court DENIES 18 MOTION for Summary Judgment. The Court will issue a docket control order.”
In Viera v. Univision, he granted the plaintiff leave to amend and denied the defendant's dismissal motion without prejudice to refiling it as a summary-judgment motion.
“The Court GRANTS Plaintiff's Motion for Leave to Amend Complaint. The Court also DENIES Deft.'s Motion to Dismiss without prejudice to refiling as a motion for summary judgment”
Caseload & timing
From public federal docket records for this judge.
Median case duration in the sampled dockets: 395 days (N = 13).
Median motion-to-ruling time: 14.5 days (N = 32).
- Several civil cases were removed and then REMANDED back to state court (e.g. Garza v. Melgarejo, Promotions of America v. APA, both marked 'DO NOT DOCKET.
- CASE HAS BEEN REMANDED'); these are excluded from the duration set as non-merits terminations.
- One docket (Longoria v. MNB Ventures, 7:13-cv-00588) shows an 11-year span (2013 to 2024) consistent with an administrative reopen/close and is excluded as anomalous.
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 | 25 |
| 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 | 7 |
| Report | Motions over six months | Cases over three years |
|---|---|---|
| Mar 2026 | 25 | 7 |
| Sep 2025 | 4 | 5 |
| Mar 2025 | 0 | 15 |
| Sep 2024 | 0 | 16 |
| Mar 2024 | 0 | 14 |
| Sep 2023 | 0 | 15 |
| Mar 2023 | 0 | 11 |
| Sep 2022 | 0 | 11 |
| Mar 2022 | 0 | 9 |
| Sep 2021 | 0 | 10 |
| Mar 2021 | 0 | 7 |
| Sep 2020 | 0 | 8 |
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.
A historical record
Judge Hinojosa no longer sits on this court. This profile stays available as a record of how they ruled here. If you're preparing for a matter, start from the court's current bench.