R. Clarke VanDervort
Judge VanDervort no longer hears cases. This profile is preserved as a historical record of how they ruled.
How Judge VanDervort decides
Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
What persuades
In his consent Social Security docket, remands were overwhelmingly on the Commissioner's own motion rather than a contested claimant win -- the government frequently conceded error and asked to send a case back for further administrative proceedings before the court ever had to weigh the merits.
“granting Defendant's MOTION to Remand To Commissioner of Social Security; remanding this case to the Commissioner of Social Security for further proceedings before an Administrative Law Judge.”
Procedural preferences
Where a claimant did not respond to a dispositive motion at all -- a Commissioner's timeliness challenge, or the government's motion to dismiss for failure to prosecute -- he did not treat the silence itself as a default; he still worked through the merits or the equitable-tolling analysis in a full written opinion before ruling for the moving party.
“Claimant has not attempted to rebut the presumption that he received the Appeals Council's notice on or before August 20, 2008. Without a response from Plaintiff, there appears to be no circumstances which would justify equitable tolling of the sixty-day requirement in the instant case.”
Cautions
In a pro se prisoner's civil-rights suit he was willing to let a retaliation claim survive a motion to dismiss against most defendants while still narrowing the case, dismissing one individual defendant and an associated privacy claim rather than resolving the whole motion one way.
“RECOMMENDING that the District Court GRANT Defendants' Motion to Dismiss Defendant McBride, DENY Defendants' Motion to Dismiss as to all other defendants.”
Signed rulings
A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.
“MEMORANDUM OPINION denying Plaintiff's Motion for Judgment on the Pleadings, granting Defendant's Motion for Judgment on the Pleadings, affirming the Commissioner's decision and dismissing matter from court's docket.”
“finding that the Commissioner's decision is supported by substantial evidence; denying Plaintiff's Motion to Remand To Commissioner of Social Security; granting Defendant's Motion for Judgment on the Pleadings; affirming the final decision of the Commissioner.”
“finding that the Commissioner's decision is supported by substantial evidence; denying Plaintiff's Motion to Remand To Commissioner of Social Security; granting Defendant's Motion for Judgment on the Pleadings; affirming the final decision of the Commissioner.”
“granting Plaintiff's Motion to Remand To Commissioner of Social Security; denying Defendant's Motion for Judgment on the Pleadings; reversing the final decision of the Commissioner; remanding this matter to the Commissioner.”
“denying Plaintiff's Motion to Remand To Commissioner of Social Security; granting Defendant's Motion for Judgment on the Pleadings; affirming the final decision of the Commissioner; dismissing this case from the docket of this Court.”
“Defendant's Unopposed Motion to Remand is GRANTED. Case is REMANDED to Commissioner of Social Security for further proceedings before an Administrative Law Judge ... pursuant to the provisions of sentence four of 42 U.S.C. Section 405(g).”
“the Defendant's Motion for Remand is GRANTED. This case is REMANDED to the Commissioner of Social Security for further proceedings before an Administrative Law Judge.”
“granting Defendant's Motion to Remand. This case is REMANDED to the Commissioner of Social Security for further proceedings.”
“granting Defendant's Motion to Remand. This case is REMANDED to the Commissioner of Social Security for further proceedings before an Administrative Law Judge.”
“denying Plaintiff's Motion to Reverse or Remand To Commissioner of Social Security; granting Defendant's Motion for Judgment on the Pleadings; affirming the final decision of the Commissioner; dismissing this matter from the docket of the Court.”
“GRANTING Defendant's Motion for Remand and REMANDING this case to the Commissioner of Social Security for further administrative proceedings ... pursuant to sentence six of 42 U.S.C. 405(g).”
“Plaintiff's MOTION to Dismiss is GRANTED and this action is deemed voluntarily DISMISSED without prejudice, pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 41(a)(2).”
Caseload & timing
From public federal docket records for this judge.
Median motion-to-ruling time: 30.0 days (N = 3).
Consistent with his role as a consent-jurisdiction magistrate judge in the Bluefield and Beckley divisions, the bulk of his identifiable docket is Social Security disability appeals decided by party consent under 28 U.S.C. § 636(c); he also handled general civil matters referred to him for discovery management, prisoner civil-rights and Federal Tort Claims Act suits arising out of the area's federal prisons, and criminal duty-magistrate matters.
A historical record
Judge VanDervort no longer hears cases. This profile stays available as a record of how they ruled. If you're preparing for a matter, start from the court's current bench.