Southern District of Florida / Appointed 1997 / Active

Donald M. Middlebrooks

Judge, U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida

Appointed by President William J. Clinton in 1997 and confirmed by voice vote, Donald M. Middlebrooks is a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida. He earned a law degree from University of Florida College of Law (now Fredric G. Levin College of Law) in 1972. Rulings & record ↓ Sources ↓

Born
1946 · age 80
Appointed by
William J. Clinton, 1997
Confirmed
by voice vote
Education
University of Florida 1968 · University of Florida College of Law (now Fredric G. Levin College of Law) 1972

Federal judicial service

YearCourtAppointed byVote
1997Southern District of Florida
succeeded James W. Kehoe
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

Judicial Record

Caseload & case types

In our data, Middlebrooks was assigned 13,014 district-court cases (1976–2026). Median time from filing to termination: 152 days across 12,361 closed cases.

Civil rights18%
Personal-injury torts18%
Contract12%
Prisoner & habeas11%
Labor & ERISA10%
Other civil matters9%
Other21%

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 491 of Middlebrooks’s decisions reviewed on the merits by the U.S. courts of appeals in our data, 391 were affirmed, 57 reversed or vacated, and 43 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, Middlebrooks authored 71 published opinions for the court (1997–2010). Most cited: United States v. Gonzalez (84 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A selective record from published opinions in the CourtListener corpus, not every ruling; most unpublished district orders are not included.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
2010United States v. Gonzalez718 F. Supp. 2d 134184
2001In Re Sunbeam Securities Litigation176 F. Supp. 2d 132329
2010Securities & Exchange Commission v. Solow682 F. Supp. 2d 131216
2004Kennedy v. Health Options, Inc.329 F. Supp. 2d 131416
2008Morris v. ADT Security Services580 F. Supp. 2d 130514
2001Jackson v. BellSouth Telecommunications, Inc.181 F. Supp. 2d 134513
1999Sony Music Entertainment, Inc. v. Global Arts Productions45 F. Supp. 2d 134513
2007Chalfonte Condominium Apartment Ass'n v. QBE Insurance526 F. Supp. 2d 125112
2005In Re Spear & Jackson Securities Litigation399 F. Supp. 2d 135012
2000Lee v. American Eagle Airlines, Inc.93 F. Supp. 2d 132212
2007Stuart Cay Marina v. M/V SPECIAL DELIVERY510 F. Supp. 2d 106311
2007JEFFREY O. v. City of Boca Raton511 F. Supp. 2d 133911
2000Siegel v. LePore120 F. Supp. 2d 104111
2008Securities & Exchange Commission v. Solow554 F. Supp. 2d 13569
2002Fernandez v. City of Cooper City207 F. Supp. 2d 13719

Showing the 15 most-cited of 71 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 Donald M. Middlebrooks?
President William J. Clinton appointed Donald M. Middlebrooks to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida in 1997.
Was Donald M. Middlebrooks appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?
Donald M. Middlebrooks was appointed by President William J. Clinton, a Democrat. JudicialFinder records the appointing president's party, not a judge's own politics.
What was Donald M. Middlebrooks's confirmation vote?
Donald M. Middlebrooks was confirmed by voice vote on May 23, 1997. No senator-by-senator tally was recorded.
Which court is Donald M. Middlebrooks on?
Donald M. Middlebrooks is a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida.

Sources

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

How we source & reconcile data → Data & Sources

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