James C. Dever III
Appointed by President George W. Bush in 2005 and confirmed by voice vote, James C. Dever III is a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina. He earned a law degree from Duke University School of Law in 1987. Rulings & record ↓ Sources ↓
- Born
- 1962 · age 64
- Appointed by
- George W. Bush, 2005
- Confirmed
- by voice vote
- Education
- University of Notre Dame 1984 · Duke Law 1987
- Succeeded
- William Earl Britt
Federal judicial service
| Year | Court | Appointed by | Vote |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2005 | Eastern District of North Carolina succeeded William Earl Britt | G.W. Bush (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
| University of Notre Dame | B.B.A. | 1984 |
| Duke University School of Law | J.D. | 1987 |
Judicial Record
Caseload & case types
In our data, Dever was assigned 7,081 district-court cases (1996–2026). Median time from filing to termination: 239 days across 5,437 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 1,227 of Dever’s decisions reviewed on the merits by the U.S. courts of appeals in our data, 1,069 were affirmed, 97 reversed or vacated, and 61 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, Dever authored 79 published opinions for the court (2004–2012). Most cited: Kelly v. Georgia-Pacific LLC (70 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A selective record from published opinions in the CourtListener corpus, not every ruling; most unpublished district orders are not included.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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 | Kelly v. Georgia-Pacific LLC | 671 F. Supp. 2d 785 | 70 |
| 2008 | Gallagher Ex Rel. National Packaging Solutions Group Trust v. Southern Source Packaging, LLC | 568 F. Supp. 2d 624 | 55 |
| 2008 | Bratcher v. Pharmaceutical Product Development, Inc. | 545 F. Supp. 2d 533 | 49 |
| 2008 | Parker v. Bladen County | 583 F. Supp. 2d 736 | 47 |
| 2006 | McDougal-Wilson v. Goodyear Tire and Rubber Co. | 427 F. Supp. 2d 595 | 32 |
| 2009 | Frye v. Brunswick County Board of Education | 612 F. Supp. 2d 694 | 25 |
| 2010 | Hill v. Robeson County, NC | 733 F. Supp. 2d 676 | 24 |
| 2010 | Wyeth v. Sandoz, Inc. | 703 F. Supp. 2d 508 | 23 |
| 2009 | Bostic v. Rodriguez | 667 F. Supp. 2d 591 | 23 |
| 2008 | Iglesias v. Wolford | 539 F. Supp. 2d 831 | 19 |
| 2005 | Crain v. Butler | 419 F. Supp. 2d 785 | 15 |
| 2008 | Coastal Federal Credit Union v. Hardiman | 398 B.R. 161 | 14 |
| 2009 | Melvin v. Astrue | 602 F. Supp. 2d 694 | 13 |
| 2008 | Ross v. Washington Mutual Bank | 566 F. Supp. 2d 468 | 13 |
| 2004 | Farmer v. Wilson Housing Authority | 393 F. Supp. 2d 384 | 12 |
Showing the 15 most-cited of 79 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 C. Dever III?
- President George W. Bush appointed James C. Dever III to the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina in 2005.
- Was James C. Dever III appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?
- James C. Dever III was appointed by President George W. Bush, a Republican. JudicialFinder records the appointing president's party, not a judge's own politics.
- What was James C. Dever III's confirmation vote?
- James C. Dever III was confirmed by voice vote on April 28, 2005. No senator-by-senator tally was recorded.
- Which court is James C. Dever III on?
- James C. Dever III is a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina.
Sources
Each fact on this page traces to a primary public record.
- FJC Biographical Directory
- Wikidata
- Portrait: Administrative Office of the United States Courts (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.
21 years on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina. Data as of 2026-08-10. Informational only; verify against the primary source before relying. Not a consumer report (FCRA).