Eastern District of Virginia / Appointed 1974 / Served to 1986

David Dortch Warriner

Judge, U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia

Appointed by President Richard M. Nixon in 1974 and confirmed by voice vote, David Dortch Warriner was a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia. He earned a law degree from University of Virginia School of Law in 1957. Rulings & record ↓ Sources ↓

Lived
1929–1986
Appointed by
Richard M. Nixon, 1974
Confirmed
by voice vote
Education
University of North Carolina 1951 · University of Virginia Law 1957

Federal judicial service

YearCourtAppointed byVote
1974Eastern District of VirginiaNixon (R)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

Judicial Record

Caseload & case types

In our data, Warriner was assigned 82 district-court cases (1981–1986). Median time from filing to termination: 3,407 days across 82 closed cases.

Contract21%
Personal-injury torts21%
Civil rights12%
Prisoner & habeas11%
Labor & ERISA10%
Social Security10%
Other16%

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, Warriner authored 207 published opinions for the court (1974–1986). Most cited: Durkin v. Taylor (100 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A selective record from published opinions in the CourtListener corpus, not every ruling; most unpublished district orders are not included.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

YearCaseCitationCited
1977Durkin v. Taylor444 F. Supp. 879100
1976Tyler v. Weinberger409 F. Supp. 77664
1980Picture Lake Campground, Inc. v. Holiday Inns, Inc.497 F. Supp. 85853
1980Kelly v. Cooper502 F. Supp. 137149
1980American General Insurance v. Equitable General Corp.493 F. Supp. 72146
1981Haynes v. Anderson & Strudwick, Inc.508 F. Supp. 130342
1985Music City Music v. Alfa Foods, Ltd.616 F. Supp. 100141
1982In Re King Elec. Co., Inc.19 B.R. 66037
1980Thompson v. Gillen491 F. Supp. 2437
1978Wilson v. Volkswagen of America, Inc.445 F. Supp. 136833
1977Friend v. Leidinger446 F. Supp. 36133
1979Fralin & Waldron, Inc. v. County of Henrico, Va.474 F. Supp. 131532
1981Snyder v. Titus513 F. Supp. 92631
1983Eggleston v. Prince Edward Volunteer Rescue Squad, Inc.569 F. Supp. 134428
1978Wood v. Standard Products Co., Inc.456 F. Supp. 109827

Showing the 15 most-cited of 207 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 David Dortch Warriner?
President Richard M. Nixon appointed David Dortch Warriner to the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia in 1974.
Was David Dortch Warriner appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?
David Dortch Warriner was appointed by President Richard M. Nixon, a Republican. JudicialFinder records the appointing president's party, not a judge's own politics.
What was David Dortch Warriner's confirmation vote?
David Dortch Warriner was confirmed by voice vote on May 16, 1974. No senator-by-senator tally was recorded.
Which court was David Dortch Warriner on?
David Dortch Warriner was a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia.

Sources

Each fact on this page traces to a primary public record.

How we source & reconcile data → Data & Sources

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11 years on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia. Data as of 2026-08-10. Informational only; verify against the primary source before relying. Not a consumer report (FCRA).