Eastern District of Pennsylvania / Appointed 1961 / Served to 1991

Joseph Simon Lord III

Judge, U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania

Appointed by President John F. Kennedy in 1961 and confirmed by voice vote, Joseph Simon Lord III was a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. He earned a law degree from University of Pennsylvania Law School (now Carey Law School) in 1936. Rulings & record ↓ Sources ↓

Lived
1912–1991
Appointed by
John F. Kennedy, 1961
Confirmed
by voice vote
Education
University of Pennsylvania 1933 · University of Pennsylvania Law School (now Carey Law School) 1936
Succeeded by
Marvin Katz

Federal judicial service

YearCourtAppointed byVote
1961Eastern District of PennsylvaniaKennedy (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, Lord was assigned 45 district-court cases (1987–1991). Median time from filing to termination: 356 days across 45 closed cases.

Personal-injury torts27%
Contract24%
Labor & ERISA13%
Prisoner & habeas9%
Civil rights7%
Social Security7%
Other13%

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.

In our data, Lord authored 180 published opinions for the court (1973–1990). Most cited: Santiago v. City of Philadelphia (93 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A selective record from published opinions in the CourtListener corpus, not every ruling; most unpublished district orders are not included.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
1977Santiago v. City of Philadelphia435 F. Supp. 13693
1979Kratz v. Kratz477 F. Supp. 46375
1979United States v. Vignola464 F. Supp. 109155
1974Greenberg v. Croydon Plastics Co., Inc.378 F. Supp. 80651
1974Maybanks v. Ingraham378 F. Supp. 91346
1982Cardio-Medical Associates, Ltd v. Crozer-Chester Medical Center536 F. Supp. 106543
1978Greenberg v. McCabe453 F. Supp. 76543
1977Eubanks v. Clarke434 F. Supp. 102243
1976United States v. Sorrell413 F. Supp. 13843
1980Sims v. MacK Truck Corp.488 F. Supp. 59240
1978Freeman v. Kulicke & Soffa Industries, Inc.449 F. Supp. 97438
1973Reed v. Hartford Accident & Indemnity Company367 F. Supp. 13437
1985Aquino v. Public Finance Consumer Discount Co.606 F. Supp. 50435
1985Werts v. Federal National Mortgage Ass'n48 B.R. 98035
1973In Re Penn Central Securities Litigation367 F. Supp. 115835

Showing the 15 most-cited of 180 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 Joseph Simon Lord III?
President John F. Kennedy appointed Joseph Simon Lord III to the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania in 1961.
Was Joseph Simon Lord III appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?
Joseph Simon Lord III was appointed by President John F. Kennedy, a Democrat. JudicialFinder records the appointing president's party, not a judge's own politics.
What was Joseph Simon Lord III's confirmation vote?
Joseph Simon Lord III was confirmed by voice vote on September 14, 1961. No senator-by-senator tally was recorded.
Which court was Joseph Simon Lord III on?
Joseph Simon Lord III was a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.

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 Eastern District of Pennsylvania. Data as of 2026-08-10. Informational only; verify against the primary source before relying. Not a consumer report (FCRA).