Dan A. Polster
Appointed by President William J. Clinton in 1998 and confirmed by voice vote, Dan A. Polster is a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio. He earned a law degree from Harvard Law School in 1976. Rulings & record ↓ Sources ↓
- Born
- 1951 · age 75
- Appointed by
- William J. Clinton, 1998
- Confirmed
- by voice vote
- Education
- Harvard College 1972 · Harvard Law School 1976
- Succeeded
- David Dudley Dowd Jr.
- Succeeded by
- Bridget Meehan Brennan
Federal judicial service
| Year | Court | Appointed by | Vote |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1998 | Northern District of Ohio succeeded David Dudley Dowd Jr. | Clinton (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
| Harvard College | A.B. | 1972 |
| Harvard Law School | J.D. | 1976 |
Judicial Record
Caseload & case types
In our data, Polster was assigned 8,639 district-court cases (1993–2026). Median time from filing to termination: 135 days across 6,122 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.
On appeal
Of 417 of Polster’s decisions reviewed on the merits by the U.S. courts of appeals in our data, 345 were affirmed, 46 reversed or vacated, and 26 affirmed in part and reversed in part. This is a historical count of appellate outcomes for cases we could match, not a judgment of the judge, and not a complete record. How we count.
In our data, Polster authored 38 published opinions for the court (1996–2011). Most cited: Ethington v. General Electric Co. (45 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A selective record from published opinions in the CourtListener corpus, not every ruling; most unpublished district orders are not included.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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | Ethington v. General Electric Co. | 575 F. Supp. 2d 855 | 45 |
| 2007 | Eisen v. Thompson | 370 B.R. 762 | 32 |
| 2004 | Bartel v. John Crane, Inc. | 316 F. Supp. 2d 603 | 15 |
| 2005 | Adcor Indus., Inc. v. BEVCORP, LLC | 411 F. Supp. 2d 778 | 14 |
| 2009 | Gawry v. Countrywide Home Loans, Inc. | 640 F. Supp. 2d 942 | 13 |
| 2008 | Geffen v. General Electric Co. | 575 F. Supp. 2d 865 | 13 |
| 2006 | Figueroa v. U.S. Postal Service | 422 F. Supp. 2d 866 | 11 |
| 2007 | Cox v. True North Energy, LLC. | 524 F. Supp. 2d 927 | 8 |
| 2002 | Smithers-Oasis Co. v. Clifford Sales & Marketing | 194 F. Supp. 2d 685 | 8 |
| 2001 | Kormanik v. St. Paul Fire and Marine Ins. Co. | 208 F. Supp. 2d 824 | 8 |
| 2008 | Rettig v. Jefferys | 557 F. Supp. 2d 830 | 7 |
| 2011 | Unique Product Solutions, Ltd. v. HY-Grade Valve, Inc. | 765 F. Supp. 2d 997 | 6 |
| 2007 | Crespo v. United States Merit Systems Protection Board | 486 F. Supp. 2d 680 | 6 |
| 2011 | Unique Product Solutions, Ltd. v. Hy-Grade Valve, Inc. | 813 F. Supp. 2d 854 | 5 |
| 2008 | Smith v. Encore Credit Corp. | 623 F. Supp. 2d 910 | 5 |
Showing the 15 most-cited of 38 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 Dan A. Polster?
- President William J. Clinton appointed Dan A. Polster to the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio in 1998.
- Was Dan A. Polster appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?
- Dan A. Polster was appointed by President William J. Clinton, a Democrat. JudicialFinder records the appointing president's party, not a judge's own politics.
- What was Dan A. Polster's confirmation vote?
- Dan A. Polster was confirmed by voice vote on July 31, 1998. No senator-by-senator tally was recorded.
- Which court is Dan A. Polster on?
- Dan A. Polster is a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio.
Sources
Each fact on this page traces to a primary public record.
- FJC Biographical Directory
- 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.
28 years on the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio. Data as of 2026-08-10. Informational only; verify against the primary source before relying. Not a consumer report (FCRA).