John C. Lifland
Appointed by President Ronald Reagan in 1988 and confirmed by voice vote, John C. Lifland was a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey. He earned a law degree from Harvard Law School in 1957. Rulings & record ↓ Sources ↓
- Born
- 1933 · age 93
- Appointed by
- Ronald Reagan, 1988
- Confirmed
- by voice vote
- Education
- Yale 1954 · Harvard Law School 1957
- Succeeded
- Clarkson Sherman Fisher
- Succeeded by
- William J. Martini
Federal judicial service
| Year | Court | Appointed by | Vote |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1988 | District of New Jersey succeeded Clarkson Sherman Fisher | Reagan (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
| Yale University | B.A. | 1954 |
| Harvard Law School | LL.B. | 1957 |
Judicial Record
Caseload & case types
In our data, Lifland was assigned 4,883 district-court cases (1981–2006). Median time from filing to termination: 223 days across 4,877 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 16 of Lifland’s decisions reviewed on the merits by the U.S. courts of appeals in our data, 12 were affirmed, 4 reversed or vacated. 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, Lifland authored 88 published opinions for the court (1988–2007). Most cited: Hoffman v. Fidelity and Deposit Co. of Maryland (41 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A selective record from published opinions in the CourtListener corpus, not every ruling; most unpublished district orders are not included.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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1990 | Hoffman v. Fidelity and Deposit Co. of Maryland | 734 F. Supp. 192 | 41 |
| 1998 | Essex Chemical Corp. v. Hartford Accident & Indemnity Co. | 993 F. Supp. 241 | 36 |
| 2004 | In Re Gabapentin Patent Litigation | 312 F. Supp. 2d 653 | 29 |
| 2006 | 800-JR Cigar, Inc. v. GoTo. Com, Inc. | 437 F. Supp. 2d 273 | 25 |
| 1993 | Obendorfer v. Gitano Group, Inc. | 838 F. Supp. 950 | 24 |
| 1997 | Central Jersey Freightliner, Inc. v. Freightliner Corp. | 987 F. Supp. 289 | 23 |
| 1996 | Rutigliano v. Valley Business Forms | 929 F. Supp. 779 | 23 |
| 1996 | Dubowsky v. Stern, Lavinthal, Norgaard & Daly | 922 F. Supp. 985 | 21 |
| 1992 | Midlantic National Bank v. Sourlis | 141 B.R. 826 | 20 |
| 1991 | United States v. Berk & Berk | 767 F. Supp. 593 | 16 |
| 1991 | Pancza v. Remco Baby, Inc. | 761 F. Supp. 1164 | 16 |
| 1989 | Matter of Sound Radio, Inc. | 103 B.R. 521 | 16 |
| 1996 | Illingworth v. Nestle U.S.A., Inc. | 926 F. Supp. 482 | 15 |
| 1996 | Campbell v. International Business MacHines | 912 F. Supp. 116 | 15 |
| 1998 | Metropolitan Life Insurance v. Potter | 992 F. Supp. 717 | 13 |
Showing the 15 most-cited of 88 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 John C. Lifland?
- President Ronald Reagan appointed John C. Lifland to the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey in 1988.
- Was John C. Lifland appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?
- John C. Lifland was appointed by President Ronald Reagan, a Republican. JudicialFinder records the appointing president's party, not a judge's own politics.
- What was John C. Lifland's confirmation vote?
- John C. Lifland was confirmed by voice vote on May 19, 1988. No senator-by-senator tally was recorded.
- Which court was John C. Lifland on?
- John C. Lifland was a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey.
Sources
Each fact on this page traces to a primary public record.
- FJC Biographical Directory
- Wikidata
- 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.
19 years on the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey. Data as of 2026-08-10. Informational only; verify against the primary source before relying. Not a consumer report (FCRA).