Evan Rikhye
How Judge Rikhye rules, drawn from 4 signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
About Judge Rikhye
Evan Rikhye took office as a judge of the District Court of the Virgin Islands on May 28, 2026, after Senate confirmation. A graduate of American University and its law school, he spent two decades with the United States Department of Justice before his appointment and sits in the St. Thomas and St. John Division.
Judge Rikhye's practices and standing orders
The court's website lists no individual practices or standing orders of Judge Rikhye's own (checked October 9, 2026), so the court's local rules and general orders are the place to look (court page ↗).
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 Rikhye decides
Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
What persuades
In the Ocwen tax dispute, he dismissed the territorial government’s common-law recovery claim because the statutory tax assessment and collection scheme supplied the proper route.
“Thus, the Court finds that the GVI’s common law claims are preempted by statute and must be dismissed with prejudice.”
Procedural preferences
A party seeking relief from untimely responses to requests for admission should address good cause, merits presentation, and prejudice with a concrete record.
“Based on the Record before it, the Court finds no good cause for Defendants’ delay.”
A Rule 12(f) motion should target a pleading defined by Rule 7(a), not a motion or other filing outside the pleadings.
“Rule 12(f) applies only to pleadings as defined by Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 7(a), and not to motions.”
Cautions
The court expects counsel to comply with basic litigation deadlines and procedures, particularly in a matter affecting public constitutional rights.
“Defense counsel—appearing as a representative of this territory's citizens—must treat this matter with the competence, care, and professionalism expected of all litigants appearing before this Court.”
Signed rulings
A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.
“Accordingly, it is hereby ORDERED that the Government of the Virgin Islands’ (‘Defendant’) motion to stay the briefing schedule is DENIED.”
“It is further ORDERED that Defendant’s motion to withdraw or amend the Requests for Admission is DENIED without prejudice.”
“ORDERED that the Defendant’s motion to strike is hereby DENIED.”
“The Court, therefore, will GRANT Perkins’ motion for partial judgment on the pleadings”
“In sum, the Court hereby GRANTS Ocwen’s motion to dismiss [ECF No. 6] with prejudice.”
Caseload & timing
From public federal docket records for this judge.
Median motion-to-ruling time: 2 days (N = 3).
Judge Rikhye’s first assignment set consists mainly of newly filed civil matters plus a small number of inherited cases. In one inherited territorial tax case, he granted partial judgment on the pleadings; most other sampled matters remain at the pleading, discovery, or scheduling stage.
How long civil cases take in this court
For the whole of U.S. District Court for the District of the Virgin Islands, not for Judge Rikhye: 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 | 105 | 10.3 months |
| Closed with no court action | 62 | 5.5 months |
| Closed before pretrial | 15 | 10.8 months |
| Closed during or after pretrial | 27 | 25.7 months |
| Closed during trial | 1 | not reported |
| 12 months ending | Cases closed | Median time |
|---|---|---|
| Sep 2025 | 105 | 10.3 months |
| Sep 2024 | 138 | 16 months |
| Sep 2023 | 145 | 20.4 months |
| Sep 2022 | 308 | 6.4 months |
| Sep 2021 | 280 | 6.2 months |
| Sep 2020 | 210 | 14.2 months |
| Sep 2019 | 131 | 14.8 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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