Brian Theadore Stewart
How Judge Stewart rules, drawn from 36 signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
About Judge Stewart
Brian Theadore Stewart is a judge of the United States District Court for the District of Utah. Appointed by President William J. Clinton, Judge Stewart received a commission on November 11, 1999. Judge Stewart assumed senior status on September 1, 2014.
Judge Stewart's practices and standing orders
Rules for cases before Judge Stewart, 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
Proposed orders emailed to chambers must be editable word processing files.
“Proposed orders emailed to chambers must be editable and submitted in word processing format”
Filing
Courtesy copies of filings are unnecessary.
“Judge Stewart does not require courtesy copies of filings.”
Motions
A TRO hearing will not be set until Judge Stewart has received and reviewed the motion.
“TRO Hearings will not be set prior to the filing and review of the Motion for a TRO.”
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).
How Judge Stewart decides
Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
What persuades
A complaint needed factual substance beyond labels and a formulaic recitation of the elements.
“A pleading that offers ‘labels and conclusions’ or ‘a formulaic recitation of the elements of a cause of action will not do.’”
A party opposing summary judgment had to identify and explain its evidence; the court would not construct the argument from the record.
“The Court will not sift through the evidence to make arguments on IPC’s behalf.”
Procedural preferences
Arguments first raised on reconsideration were not considered when they could have been presented in opposition to the original motion.
“The Court will similarly decline to consider this argument as one that Plaintiff failed to raise in opposition to Defendants’ Motion to Dismiss.”
The court enforced the removal deadline after resolving the service-date dispute and rejected an estoppel argument based on litigation conduct.
“Notice of Removal was untimely.”
Signed rulings
A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.
“ORDERED that Plaintiffs Motion for Attorney Fees (Docket No. 224) is GRANTED.”
“ORDERED that Defendant’s Motion to Dismiss Count IV of the Indictment (Docket No. 147) is GRANTED.”
“ORDERED that Defendants’ Motion for Partial Summary Judgment (Docket No. 28) is DENIED.”
“ORDERED that Defendant’s Motion for Summary Judgment (Docket No. 20) is GRANTED.”
“ORDERED that the government’s Motion for Reconsideration (Docket No. 352) is DENIED, subject to the conditions described above.”
“ORDERED that the Government’s Motion for Summary Judgment Against Funds Seized from Home Savings Bank Account # (Redacted) 8618 in the Name of Paul Gotay of at least $381,000 (Docket No. 163) is GRANTED.”
“ORDERED that the Government’s Motion to Strike the Claim of American First Builders (Docket No. 161) is GRANTED.”
“ORDERED that Defendant St. Jude’s Motion to Dismiss (Docket No. 8) is granted.”
“ORDERED that Defendant’s Motion to Dismiss for Lack of Personal Jurisdiction (Docket No. 13) is DENIED.”
“ORDERED that Defendant’s Motion to Suppress (Docket No. 42) is DENIED.”
“ORDERED that Plaintiffs’ Motion to Strike the Second Through Fifth Affirmative Defenses Asserted in Defendants’ Answer (Docket No. 67) is GRANTED.”
“ORDERED that Plaintiffs Motion for Summary Judgment (Docket No. 69) is GRANTED.”
“ORDERED that Plaintiffs Motion to Stay Proceedings (Docket No. 47) is DENIED.”
“ORDERED that Plaintiffs Rule 54(b) Motion to Revise this Court’s Order Granting in Part and Denying in Part Defendants’ Motion to Dismiss (Docket No. 45) is DENIED.”
“ORDERED that Plaintiffs Motion to Amend Scheduling Order (Docket No. 56) is GRANTED.”
“ORDERED that Doubletap’s Motion for Summary Judgment (Docket No. 18) is DENIED.”
“ORDERED that Hornady’s Motion to Stay (Docket No. 28) is DENIED AS MOOT.”
Caseload & timing
From public federal docket records for this judge.
Median case duration in the sampled dockets: 357 days (N = 20).
The bounded enumeration contains 20 terminated cases filed in January and February 2009. It is a historical slice, not a career-wide caseload profile.
How long civil cases take in this court
For the whole of United States District Court for the District of Utah, not for Judge Stewart: 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 | 1,120 | 8.5 months |
| Closed with no court action | 343 | 7 months |
| Closed before pretrial | 764 | 9 months |
| Closed during or after pretrial | 3 | not reported |
| Closed during trial | 10 | 59 months |
| 12 months ending | Cases closed | Median time |
|---|---|---|
| Sep 2025 | 1,120 | 8.5 months |
| Sep 2024 | 1,141 | 9.3 months |
| Sep 2023 | 1,035 | 10.6 months |
| Sep 2022 | 1,092 | 12.3 months |
| Sep 2021 | 1,128 | 12.7 months |
| Sep 2020 | 951 | 10.4 months |
| Sep 2019 | 1,085 | 9.7 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 Stewart with the record in hand
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