UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
WESTERN DISTRICT OF KENTUCKY
In Re: CASE ASSIGNMENT AND CASE GENERAL ORDER
REASSIGNMENT DUE TO RECUSALS NO. 23-04
Pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 137, LR 40. l (a) and LCrR 50.l(a), all civil, criminal, and
miscellaneous cases filed as of this date shall be assigned, or reassigned due to recusal, in
accordance with this General Order.
The goal of this General Order is to provide a system for assigning the Court's cases
among its judges in a manner that ensures an approximately equal distribution of newly filed
cases to each of the active judges, and a percentage to whichever of the senior judges elects to
take a lower distribution. This Order does not vest any rights in litigants or members of the
bar and is adopted for the internal management of the Court's case load.
DISTRICT JUDGE CASE ASSIGNMENT
Pursuant to LR 3.2 and LCrR 18.2, all cases commenced in or transferred to the Court shall
be assigned to an individual jury division, each of which contains an electronic deck of case
assignment cards. These case assignment cards, in turn, contain the name(s) of the Judge or Judges
who draw cases from that division in the percentages set forth herein.
Once a case is assigned to a division, it will receive a case number. A separate sequence of
case numbers is maintained for each division's civil ("cv"), criminal ("cr")2, miscellaneous ("mc"),
magistrate judge ("mj") and petty offense ("po") cases.
LOUISVILLE CASES
Chief Judge Greg N. Stivers, Judge David J. Hale, Judge Rebecca Grady Jennings, Judge
Claria Horn Boom, Judge Benjamin Beaton, and Senior Judge Charles R. Simpson III shall
each draw civil, criminal and miscellaneous cases assigned to the Louisville division. The
case assignment cards comprising the Louisville case assignment decks shall be
electronically shuffled so that the sequence will be random, and the cards shall be
concealed such that the name of the Judge will not be known until the card is drawn.
In order to equalize the distribution of the newly filed cases among the judges in active
service throughout the district, the number of cards each judge draws from the Louisville
case assignment decks will vary based on the number of cases assigned to each judge from
the other jury divisions, if any. Judge Boom shall receive new case assignments
approximately equal to 50% of the number of cases assigned to an active judge and Senior
Judge Simpson shall receive new case assignments approximately equal to 25% of the
number of cases assigned to an active judge.
1 The assignment of death penalty cases and cases in which a plaintiff seeks review, pursuant to 42 U.S. C. § 405(g),
of a decision by the Commissioner of Social Security is addressed in separate general orders.
2 The Court maintains two (2) separate criminal case assignment decks, both of which contain the same proportions of
case assignment cards. One deck is reserved for criminal cases in which the jurisdiction of a probationer or supervised
releasee is transferred to the Court pursuant to 18 U.S.C. § 3605, and another deck is reserved for all other criminal
cases. A case assigned from one deck shall not impact the number of cases to be assigned from the other deck.
Any case from which a judge recuses shall be randomly reassigned to another Judge
who draws cases from the Louisville division.
BOWLING GREEN CASES
Chief Judge Greg N. Stivers shall be assigned 100% of all civil, criminal and
miscellaneous cases assigned to the Bowling Green division. Any case in which Judge
Stivers recuses shall be randomly reassigned to Judge Hale, Judge Jennings, or Judge
Beaton.
OWENSBORO CASES
Owensboro Civil and Miscellaneous Cases. Judge Joseph H. McKinley, Jr. shall
be assigned 100% of all civil and miscellaneous cases assigned to the Owensboro
division. Any civil or miscellaneous case from which Judge McKinley recuses shall
be randomly reassigned to Chief Judge Stivers, Judge Hale, Judge Jennings, or Judge
Beaton.
Owensboro Criminal Cases. Chief Judge Greg N. Stivers, Judge David J. Hale, Judge
Rebecca Grady Jennings, and Judge Benjamin Beaton, shall each draw criminal cases
assigned to the Owensboro division. Based on the historical distribution of criminal cases
filed within the Western District’s divisions, and in an effort to equalize the distribution
of newly filed cases among the judges in active service throughout the district, criminal
cases assigned to the Owensboro division shall be assigned as follows:
Judge Rebecca Grady Jennings shall be assigned the first four (4) criminal cases
assigned to the Owensboro division following the entry of this Order. Judge
David J. Hale shall be assigned the next four (4) criminal cases assigned to the
Owensboro division. Thereafter, Chief Judge Stivers and Judge Beaton shall be
randomly assigned all Owensboro criminal cases filed throughout the remainder
of the calendar year. The Owensboro criminal case assignment deck shall be reset
to follow this same sequence of case assignments in each subsequent calendar
year, unless modified by general order prior thereto.
If a judge assigned an Owensboro criminal cases recuses, that case shall be
reassigned as follows:
Should Chief Judge Stivers recuse, the case shall be reassigned to Judge
Beaton.
Should Judge Beaton recuse, the case shall be reassigned to Chief Judge
Stivers.
Should Judge Hale recuse, the case shall be reassigned to Judge Jennings.
Should Judge Jennings recuse, the case shall be reassigned to Judge Hale.
PADUCAH CASES
Judge Benjamin Beaton shall be assigned 100% of all civil, criminal and
miscellaneous cases assigned to the Paducah division. Any case from which Judge
Beaton recuses shall be reassigned to Chief Judge Stivers.
Should the recusal process outlined in this Order be exhausted, the Chief Judge shall
determine reassignment.
MAGISTRATE JUDGE CASE REFERALS AND ASSIGNMENT
Civil, Criminal and Miscellaneous Cases
A District Judge may refer a matter to a Magistrate Judge either directly or by way of
a Magistrate Judge referral deck. The Magistrate Judge referral deck for civil, criminal and
miscellaneous cases shall include Magistrate Judge cards that are apportioned among the
Magistrate Judges as set forth below. The decks will be periodically adjusted to reflect all
referrals made to the Magistrate judges, whether through the referral deck or directly.
LOUISVILLE CASES
Civil and miscellaneous case referrals shall be randomly divided as follows:
Louisville Magistrate Judges =50% each
Criminal case referrals shall be randomly, but evenly, divided among the Louisville
Magistrate Judges.
BOWLING GREEN CASES
Bowling Green Magistrate Judge =100%
OWENSBORO CASES
Bowling Green Magistrate Judge =100%
PADUCAH CASES
Paducah Magistrate Judge =100%
Any reference, and the scope thereof, whether made directly or through the
Magistrate Judge referral deck, shall be solely within the discretion of the District Judge to
whom the case is assigned.
Misdemeanor Cases
Upon the filing of an information, complaint or violation notice, or the return of an
indictment, all misdemeanor cases shall generally be assigned to a Magistrate Judge who shall
proceed in accordance with the provisions of 18 U.S.C. § 340l and Fed. R. Crim. P. 58. Such
cases shall be assigned to an individual jury division at which time it will receive either an "mj"
case number if it involves a Class A misdemeanor or "po" case number if it involves a Class B
misdemeanor. Such cases are to be assigned to a Magistrate Judge as follows:
LOUISVILLE CASES, INCLUDING FT. KNOX CASES
Whichever Louisville Magistrate Judge has designated criminal duty at the time of filing.
BOWLING GREEN CASES
Bowling Green Magistrate Judge= 100%
OWENSBORO CASES
Bowling Green Magistrate Judge= 100%
PADUCAH CASES, INCLUDING FT. CAMPBELL CASES
Paducah Magistrate Judge= 100%
Habeas Cases
Habeas cases1 shall be referred to the magistrate judges on a proportionate basis as
determined by the District Judges, giving due consideration to the existing caseload. Such
referrals may be made directly or through the use of Magistrate Judge referral decks. One referral
deck shall exist for cases filed pursuant to 28 U.S.C. §§ 2241 or 2254 and another referral deck
shall exist for cases filed pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2255. These decks shall include Magistrate
Judge cards that are apportioned among the Magistrate Judges as set forth below.
LOUISVILLE CASES
All Magistrate Judges shall draw referrals from habeas cases assigned to the Louisville
division. The case assignment cards comprising both Louisville habeas case referral decks shall
be electronically shuffled so that the sequence will be random. The number of cards each
Magistrate Judge draws from the referral deck will vary based on the number of habeas cases
referred to each Magistrate Judge from the other divisions, if any.
1
Any habeas corpus petition filed pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2254 by a petitioner under a sentence of death, and any
civil action filed by a plaintiff under a sentence of death challenging the manner or method of execution, shall be
assigned and referred pursuant to GO 2012-06.
BOWLING GREEN CASES
Bowling Green Magistrate Judge= 100%
OWENSBORO CASES
Bowling Green Magistrate Judge= 100%
PADUCAH CASES
Paducah Magistrate Judge= 100%
Transfers
Transfers between Magistrate Judges to equalize dockets and for other appropriate
reasons shall be entered from time to time upon concurrence of both the transferee and transferor
judges.
ASSIGNMENT OF CLOSED CASES
Any closed case that was previously assigned to the docket of a judge who is no longer in
active service and in which a motion or other pleading requiring judicial action is filed, is
referred to the Clerk of this Court who shall reassign the case to another judge in the same
fashion as new cases are assigned.
This General Order supersedes and vacates General Order 22-14.
DATED: March 27, 2023
ENTERED
J J. JR., CLERK
3/27/2023
U.S. DISTRICT COURT
WESTERN DISTRICT OF KENTUCKY
