Franklin D. Burgess
Appointed by President William J. Clinton in 1994 and confirmed by voice vote, Franklin D. Burgess was a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington. He earned a law degree from Gonzaga University School of Law in 1966. Rulings & record ↓ Sources ↓
- Lived
- 1935–2010
- Appointed by
- William J. Clinton, 1994
- Confirmed
- by voice vote
- Education
- Gonzaga 1961 · Gonzaga Law 1966
- Succeeded
- Jack Edward Tanner
- Succeeded by
- Benjamin Hale Settle
Federal judicial service
| Year | Court | Appointed by | Vote |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1994 | Western District of Washington succeeded Jack Edward Tanner | 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
| Gonzaga University | B.A. | 1961 |
| Gonzaga University School of Law | J.D. | 1966 |
Judicial Record
Caseload & case types
In our data, Burgess was assigned 3,990 district-court cases (1984–2010). Median time from filing to termination: 205 days across 3,990 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 66 of Burgess’s decisions reviewed on the merits by the U.S. courts of appeals in our data, 56 were affirmed, 6 reversed or vacated, and 4 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, Burgess authored 27 published opinions for the court (1995–2008). Most cited: Corrie v. Caterpillar, Inc. (17 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A selective record from published opinions in the CourtListener corpus, not every ruling; most unpublished district orders are not included.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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2005 | Corrie v. Caterpillar, Inc. | 403 F. Supp. 2d 1019 | 17 |
| 1995 | Ashworth v. Roundup Co. | 897 F. Supp. 489 | 14 |
| 2002 | Cline v. First Nationwide Mortgage Corp. (In Re Cline) | 282 B.R. 686 | 11 |
| 1999 | Palazzolo-Robinson v. Sharis Management Corp. | 68 F. Supp. 2d 1186 | 11 |
| 2000 | Bothell v. Hitachi Zosen Corp. | 97 F. Supp. 2d 1048 | 7 |
| 2000 | Eggleston v. PIERCE COUNTY, WASH. | 99 F. Supp. 2d 1280 | 5 |
| 2005 | Cadet Manufacturing Co. v. American Insurance | 391 F. Supp. 2d 884 | 4 |
| 2005 | Evergreen School District v. N.F. | 393 F. Supp. 2d 1070 | 4 |
| 1999 | City of Auburn v. U S West Communications, Inc. | 79 F. Supp. 2d 1214 | 4 |
| 1997 | Powell v. Riveland | 991 F. Supp. 1249 | 4 |
| 1997 | Washington Physicians Service Ass'n v. Gregoire | 967 F. Supp. 424 | 4 |
| 2006 | Tuttle v. Standard Insurance | 459 F. Supp. 2d 1063 | 3 |
| 2001 | Mt. St. Helens Mining & Recovery Ltd. Partnership v. United States | 177 F. Supp. 2d 1143 | 2 |
| 2000 | Cook v. Ancich | 119 F. Supp. 2d 1118 | 2 |
| 2006 | R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. v. McKenna | 445 F. Supp. 2d 1252 | 1 |
Showing the 15 most-cited of 27 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 Franklin D. Burgess?
- President William J. Clinton appointed Franklin D. Burgess to the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington in 1994.
- Was Franklin D. Burgess appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?
- Franklin D. Burgess was appointed by President William J. Clinton, a Democrat. JudicialFinder records the appointing president's party, not a judge's own politics.
- What was Franklin D. Burgess's confirmation vote?
- Franklin D. Burgess was confirmed by voice vote on March 25, 1994. No senator-by-senator tally was recorded.
- Which court was Franklin D. Burgess on?
- Franklin D. Burgess was a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington.
Sources
Each fact on this page traces to a primary public record.
- FJC Biographical Directory
- Wikidata
- Portrait: United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth 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.
15 years on the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington. Data as of 2026-08-10. Informational only; verify against the primary source before relying. Not a consumer report (FCRA).