Richard George Kopf
Judge Kopf no longer hears cases. This profile is preserved as a historical record of how they ruled.
How Judge Kopf decides
Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
What persuades
On a defense summary-judgment motion he denies where credibility-dependent affidavits create a genuine dispute: in a Sec. 1983 jail-death case, incarcerated-witness affidavits that, if believed, would let a jury find the official knew of and disregarded a serious medical need required a trial -- and the same disputed facts defeated every defendant's MSJ.
“The affidavits upon which the disputed facts are based, if believed, would permit a reasonable jury to find that Hall had objectively serious medical needs and that Blaser actually knew of, but deliberately disregarded, those needs.”
Procedural preferences
He enforces NECivR 56.1(b) and Rule 56(c)(1)(A) strictly: a summary-judgment opponent must support each disputed fact with pinpoint record citations, and the court will not search the record on its own for evidence the opponent failed to cite. Unauthenticated documents and hearsay cannot be used to avoid summary judgment.
“Because Plaintiff did not reference the medical records in the brief filed in opposition to Defendants' motion for summary judgment, the court was not required to search out the records on its own and consider them. In fact, the court could not have considered the records for purposes of deciding the summary judgment motion because they are not authenticated.”
Rule 59(e) before him is narrow: it corrects manifest errors of law or fact or presents newly discovered evidence, and cannot be used to introduce new evidence, tender new legal theories, or raise arguments that could have been offered before judgment. A losing summary-judgment party cannot use a post-judgment motion to fix an inadequate MSJ opposition.
“Such motions cannot be used to introduce new evidence, tender new legal theories, or raise arguments which could have been offered or raised prior to entry of judgment.”
Cautions
He polices the magistrate/district-judge division of labor: a magistrate judge may only recommend, not order, the disposition of a dispositive motion under 28 U.S.C. 636(b)(1), and he will independently re-decide such a ruling on Rule 72 review even when no party objected to the form.
“Although not objected to by the Defendants, Judge Zwart lacked the power to deny the motion to dismiss as opposed to issuing a report and recommendation suggesting that the motion to dismiss be denied.”
Signed rulings
A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.
“IT IS ORDERED that defendant Jesse Blaser's motion for summary judgment (filing 71) is denied.”
“IT IS ORDERED that Plaintiff's motion to alter or amend judgment (Filing No. 135) is denied.”
“Without reaching the merits of the motion to dismiss, and particularly the issue of qualified immunity, I now independently decide that the motion to dismiss should be denied without prejudice pending the appeals in the related cases.”
“Plaintiff's motion to dismiss (filing 11) is granted pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 41(a) and the plaintiff's action is dismissed without prejudice, at plaintiff's costs.”
“Defendant's motion to quash service and to dismiss (filing 3) is dismissed without prejudice, as moot.”
“Defendant's motion to disqualify plaintiff's counsel (filing 4) is dismissed without prejudice, as moot.”
“The court determines that the Petition for Writ of Habeas Corpus is not cognizable in a federal court habeas corpus action. The Petition is dismissed without prejudice to reassertion in accordance with this Memorandum and Order.”
“The defendant's motion to dismiss (filing 14) is denied.”
“Plaintiff's motion to dismiss (filing 5) is granted, and Plaintiffs' action is dismissed without prejudice as against Defendants Lundeen Isaacson and Isaacson Insurance Agency.”
“Plaintiff's application for attorney fees (Filing 30) is denied;”
“Plaintiff's 'Motion to have Defendants Summary Judgement Denied' (Filing 58) is denied in all respects.”
“a certificate of appealablity will not issue under 28 U.S.C. 2253(c). ... That a Certificate of Appealability is denied;”
“The petition for writ of habeas corpus (filing no. 1) is dismissed without prejudice. No certificate of appealability has been or will be issued.”
“Petitioner's pending motions (filing nos. 4 & 5) are denied as moot.”
“The plaintiff's motion for summary judgment (Filing 302) is denied without prejudice to refiling, subject to the following conditions ...”
“The plaintiff's motion (Filing 303) to restrict access to certain exhibits that have been filed in support of the motion for summary judgment and that are subject to the protective order (Filing 191) is granted;”
Caseload & timing
From public federal docket records for this judge.
Median case duration in the sampled dockets: 385 days (N = 3).
From the 21-docket sample, the 7 cases actually assigned to Kopf span prisoner civil rights (Bradley), taxes (Raymond), other-statutory (Primero), employment / Civil Rights: Jobs (Kolar), Social Security (Parkins), and contract (Creighton University v. GE) -- a general civil docket, not the prisoner-heavy mix his published orders suggest. NOT a complete enumeration; a fuller pass would enumerate the full docket record across his 1992-2011 active tenure and post-2011 senior service.
A historical record
Judge Kopf 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.