Benjamin F. Gibson
Appointed by President Jimmy Carter in 1979 and confirmed by voice vote, Benjamin F. Gibson was a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Michigan. He earned a law degree from Detroit College of Law (now Michigan State University College of Law) in 1960. Rulings & record ↓ Sources ↓
- Lived
- 1931–2021
- Appointed by
- Jimmy Carter, 1979
- Confirmed
- by voice vote
- Education
- Wayne (now Wayne State University) 1955 · Detroit College of Law (now Michigan State College of Law) 1960
Federal judicial service
| Year | Court | Appointed by | Vote |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1979 | Western District of Michigan | Carter (D) | Voice vote |
Party letters show the appointing president’s party, not the judge’s own. A voice vote means the chamber approved aloud. No senator-by-senator tally is recorded.
Confirmation vote
Voice vote
The Senate approved this confirmation aloud, with no senator-by-senator tally recorded. Recorded roll-call votes begin in 1989.
Education
| Wayne University (now Wayne State University) | B.S. | 1955 |
| Detroit College of Law (now Michigan State University College of Law) | J.D. | 1960 |
Judicial Record
Caseload & case types
In our data, Gibson was assigned 2,277 district-court cases (1977–1997). Median time from filing to termination: 282 days across 2,277 closed cases.
Case assignment is from CourtListener’s PACER-derived docket records: a partial sample, not a complete caseload, reflecting the judge last assigned each case. How we count.
In our data, Gibson authored 167 published opinions for the court (1979–1996). Most cited: Briggs v. North Muskegon Police Department (37 citations).
A selective record from published opinions in the CourtListener corpus, not every ruling; most unpublished district orders are not included. Counts and rankings are objective and recomputable: how we count. We describe the record, not the judge.
Recent & notable rulings
| Year | Case | Citation | Cited |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1983 | Briggs v. North Muskegon Police Department | 563 F. Supp. 585 | 37 |
| 1980 | Weisbord v. Michigan State University | 495 F. Supp. 1347 | 36 |
| 1981 | Barton v. Chrysler (In Re Paine) | 14 B.R. 272 | 32 |
| 1988 | Nixon v. Celotex Corp. | 693 F. Supp. 547 | 31 |
| 1990 | Sun Life Assur. Co. of Canada v. Thomas | 735 F. Supp. 730 | 27 |
| 1987 | Central States, Southeast & Southwest Areas Pension Fund v. Skyland Leasing Co. | 691 F. Supp. 6 | 25 |
| 1991 | Traverse Bay Area Intermediate School District v. Hitco, Inc. | 762 F. Supp. 1298 | 24 |
| 1980 | Davy v. Murphy Oil Corp. | 488 F. Supp. 1013 | 24 |
| 1993 | Action Auto Stores, Inc. v. United Capitol Insurance | 845 F. Supp. 417 | 23 |
| 1989 | Roberts v. Owens-Corning Fiberglas Corp. | 726 F. Supp. 172 | 22 |
| 1984 | Stormor, a Div. of Fuqua Industries v. Johnson | 587 F. Supp. 275 | 22 |
| 1990 | Lawson v. Edwardsburg Public School | 751 F. Supp. 1257 | 21 |
| 1990 | Nicolette v. Carey | 751 F. Supp. 695 | 21 |
| 1985 | Kalamazoo Spice Extraction Co. v. Provisional Military Government of Socialist Ethiopia | 616 F. Supp. 660 | 21 |
| 1980 | Campbell v. Upjohn Co. | 498 F. Supp. 722 | 21 |
Showing the 15 most-cited of 167 authored opinions in our data. “Cited” is inbound citations across the CourtListener corpus. Case links open the ruling’s full text (CourtListener) or its page here; read the methodology and verify against the primary source.
Questions & answers
- Who appointed Benjamin F. Gibson?
- President Jimmy Carter appointed Benjamin F. Gibson to the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Michigan in 1979.
- Was Benjamin F. Gibson appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?
- Benjamin F. Gibson was appointed by President Jimmy Carter, a Democrat. JudicialFinder records the appointing president's party, not a judge's own politics.
- What was Benjamin F. Gibson's confirmation vote?
- Benjamin F. Gibson was confirmed by voice vote on September 25, 1979. No senator-by-senator tally was recorded.
- Which court was Benjamin F. Gibson on?
- Benjamin F. Gibson was a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Michigan.
Sources
Each fact on this page traces to a primary public record.
- FJC Biographical Directory
- Wikidata
- Portrait: United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit (Public domain), via Wikimedia Commons
- CourtListener bulk data (Free Law Project): authored opinions & citation counts
How we source & reconcile data → Data & Sources
See something wrong? Report an error. Fixes are logged in the corrections log.
19 years on the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Michigan. Data as of 2026-08-10. Informational only; verify against the primary source before relying. Not a consumer report (FCRA).