Robert W. Trumble
How Judge Trumble rules, drawn from 27 signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
About Judge Trumble
Robert W. Trumble serves as a United States Magistrate Judge for the Northern District of West Virginia in Martinsburg. Before joining the federal bench, he practiced civil and commercial litigation and served as a bankruptcy trustee. He earned undergraduate and law degrees from West Virginia University.
Judge Trumble's practices and standing orders
The court's website lists no individual practices or standing orders of Judge Trumble'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 Trumble decides
Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
What persuades
In the reviewed cases, unopposed Reports and Recommendations received clear-error review and were adopted in full when no timely, specific objection was filed.
“As of the date of this Order, no objections have been filed. Therefore, after allowing additional time for transit in the mail, the Court finds that the deadline for the Plaintiff to submit objections to the R&R has passed. Accordingly, this Court will review the R&R for clear error.”
In a Social Security case, the district judge adopted Trumble’s recommendation after finding that it correctly stated the facts and applied the law.
“the R&R correctly states the facts and applies the law. It does.”
Procedural preferences
In a prisoner civil-rights case, Trumble recommended dismissal without prejudice because the plaintiff had not exhausted administrative remedies.
“the Plaintiff's Complaint [ECF No. 1] be DISMISSED WITHOUT PREJUDICE due to the Plaintiff's failure to exhaust his administrative remedies.”
Cautions
First Step Act earned-time-credit petitions face a high bar in the recommendations this judge has authored: both petitions reviewed here were denied because of independent eligibility disqualifiers (a final removal order; a high PATTERN recidivism-risk score) rather than any dispute over the credits' calculation.
“the Petitioner is not eligible to have time credits applied at this time because his PATTERN score has been consistently assessed as a high risk of recidivism.”
Signed rulings
A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.
“I RECOMMEND that Plaintiff’s Motion for Summary Judgment (ECF No. 10) be DENIED, Defendant’s Motion for Summary Judgment (ECF No. 13) be GRANTED, the decision of the Commissioner be affirmed and this case be DISMISSED WITH PREJUDICE.”
“the Petitioner's Motion to Vacate [ECF No. 101 in 3:00-CR-64-2, ECF No. 1 in 3:17-CV-129] is DENIED and DISMISSED WITHOUT PREJUDICE. ... this Court hereby DENIES the Petitioner a Certificate of Appealability.”
“the Petitioner's Petition for Writ of Habeas Corpus under 28 U.S.C. § 2241 is DENIED and DISMISSED WITHOUT PREJUDICE.”
“the Plaintiff's Complaint [ECF No. 1] is DISMISSED WITHOUT PREJUDICE. The Plaintiff's [ECF No. 4] Motion to Proceed in forma pauperis is DENIED AS MOOT.”
“The Defendants' Motion to Dismiss is GRANTED. ECF No. 94. Thus, the Plaintiff's Amended Complaint is DISMISSED WITH PREJUDICE.”
“the Plaintiff's Complaint [ECF No. 1] be DISMISSED WITHOUT PREJUDICE due to the Plaintiff's failure to exhaust his administrative remedies. Further, the Court ORDERS that the Defendants' Motion to Dismiss [ECF No. 55] be GRANTED.”
“The Plaintiff's Complaint [ECF No. 1] is DISMISSED WITHOUT PREJUDICE.”
“the Defendants' Motion to Dismiss [ECF No. 59] is GRANTED, and the Plaintiff's Amended Complaint is DISMISSED WITH PREJUDICE.”
“the Plaintiff's amended complaint [ECF No. 44] is DISMISSED WITH PREJUDICE, and the Defendants' Motion to Dismiss [ECF No. 51] is GRANTED.”
“the Plaintiff's Complaint [ECF No. 1] is DISMISSED WITHOUT PREJUDICE. The remaining motions are TERMINATED AS MOOT.”
“the Respondent's Motion to Dismiss [ECF No. 13] is GRANTED and the Petitioner's § 2241 Petition is DISMISSED WITH PREJUDICE.”
“the decision of the Commissioner be AFFIRMED and this case be DISMISSED WITH PREJUDICE, and the Defendant's Motion for Summary Judgment [ECF No. 22] be TERMINATED as MOOT.”
Caseload & timing
From public federal docket records for this judge.
- Apart from Reports and Recommendations reviewed by district judges, Trumble's docket includes search- and seizure-warrant applications, initial appearances and detention proceedings, petty-offense and misdemeanor matters, and civil cases referred for settlement-week mediation.
- The sampled misdemeanor matters generally resolved by plea, while the mediated civil cases ended in mediator reports rather than contested rulings.
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 | 0 |
| 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 West Virginia, not for Judge Trumble: 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 | 300 | 10.3 months |
| Closed with no court action | 9 | not reported |
| Closed before pretrial | 272 | 9.7 months |
| Closed during or after pretrial | 15 | 14.8 months |
| Closed during trial | 4 | not reported |
| 12 months ending | Cases closed | Median time |
|---|---|---|
| Sep 2025 | 300 | 10.3 months |
| Sep 2024 | 268 | 10.1 months |
| Sep 2023 | 290 | 9.5 months |
| Sep 2022 | 301 | 11.8 months |
| Sep 2021 | 318 | 10.6 months |
| Sep 2020 | 341 | 8.6 months |
| Sep 2019 | 414 | 12.2 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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