James A. Beaty Jr.
Appointed by President William J. Clinton in 1994 and confirmed by voice vote, James A. Beaty Jr. was a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina. He earned a law degree from University of North Carolina School of Law in 1974. Rulings & record ↓ Sources ↓
- Born
- 1949 · age 77
- Appointed by
- William J. Clinton, 1994
- Confirmed
- by voice vote
- Education
- Western Carolina 1971 · University of North Carolina Law 1974
- Succeeded
- Richard Cannon Erwin
- Succeeded by
- Loretta Copeland Biggs
Federal judicial service
| Year | Court | Appointed by | Vote |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1994 | Middle District of North Carolina succeeded Richard Cannon Erwin | 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, Beaty was assigned 4,427 district-court cases (1991–2015). Median time from filing to termination: 230 days across 4,427 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 405 of Beaty’s decisions reviewed on the merits by the U.S. courts of appeals in our data, 363 were affirmed, 24 reversed or vacated, and 18 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, Beaty authored 138 published opinions for the court (1995–2011). Most cited: Estate of Williams-Moore v. Alliance One Receivables Management, Inc. (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A selective record from published opinions in the CourtListener corpus, not every ruling; most unpublished district orders are not included.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
| Year | Case | Citation | Cited |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2004 | Estate of Williams-Moore v. Alliance One Receivables Management, Inc. | 335 F. Supp. 2d 636 | 100 |
| 2003 | Rishel v. Nationwide Mutual Insurance | 297 F. Supp. 2d 854 | 44 |
| 1999 | Buser v. Southern Food Service, Inc. | 73 F. Supp. 2d 556 | 43 |
| 2006 | Doe v. Ortho-Clinical Diagnostics, Inc. | 440 F. Supp. 2d 465 | 35 |
| 2003 | Dash v. FIRSTPLUS HOME LOAN TRUST 1996-2 | 248 F. Supp. 2d 489 | 32 |
| 2003 | Shavitz v. City of High Point | 270 F. Supp. 2d 702 | 30 |
| 2011 | McFadyen v. Duke University | 786 F. Supp. 2d 887 | 28 |
| 2002 | Mullinax v. Radian Guaranty Inc. | 199 F. Supp. 2d 311 | 27 |
| 2003 | Volumetrics Medical Imaging, Inc. v. ATL Ultrasound, Inc. | 243 F. Supp. 2d 386 | 17 |
| 2001 | Basnight v. Diamond Developers, Inc. | 146 F. Supp. 2d 754 | 16 |
| 1999 | Atkins v. USF Dugan, Inc. | 106 F. Supp. 2d 799 | 16 |
| 2002 | Alderman v. Inmar Enterprises, Inc. | 201 F. Supp. 2d 532 | 15 |
| 1996 | Regent Lighting Corp. v. Galaxy Electrical Manufacturing, Inc. | 933 F. Supp. 507 | 15 |
| 2002 | Barbier v. Durham County Board of Education | 225 F. Supp. 2d 617 | 14 |
| 2002 | Brown v. Sears Automotive Center | 222 F. Supp. 2d 757 | 14 |
Showing the 15 most-cited of 138 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 James A. Beaty Jr.?
- President William J. Clinton appointed James A. Beaty Jr. to the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina in 1994.
- Was James A. Beaty Jr. appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?
- James A. Beaty Jr. was appointed by President William J. Clinton, a Democrat. JudicialFinder records the appointing president's party, not a judge's own politics.
- What was James A. Beaty Jr.'s confirmation vote?
- James A. Beaty Jr. was confirmed by voice vote on October 7, 1994. No senator-by-senator tally was recorded.
- Which court was James A. Beaty Jr. on?
- James A. Beaty Jr. was a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina.
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.
23 years on the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina. Data as of 2026-08-10. Informational only; verify against the primary source before relying. Not a consumer report (FCRA).