Nora Margaret Manella
Appointed by President William J. Clinton in 1998 and confirmed by voice vote, Nora Margaret Manella was a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California. She earned a law degree from University of Southern California Gould School of Law in 1975. Rulings & record ↓ Sources ↓
- Born
- 1951 · age 75
- Appointed by
- William J. Clinton, 1998
- Confirmed
- by voice vote
- Education
- Wellesley College 1972 · University of Southern California Gould Law 1975
- Succeeded
- Mariana R. Pfaelzer
- Succeeded by
- Jacqueline Hong-Ngoc Nguyen
Federal judicial service
| Year | Court | Appointed by | Vote |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1998 | Central District of California succeeded Mariana R. Pfaelzer | 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, Manella was assigned 2,529 district-court cases (1991–2006). Median time from filing to termination: 211 days across 2,529 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 19 of Manella’s decisions reviewed on the merits by the U.S. courts of appeals in our data, 16 were affirmed, 1 reversed or vacated, and 2 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, Manella authored 17 published opinions for the court (1999–2006). Most cited: Pepsico, Inc. v. California Security Cans (933 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A selective record from published opinions in the CourtListener corpus, not every ruling; most unpublished district orders are not included.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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2002 | Pepsico, Inc. v. California Security Cans | 238 F. Supp. 2d 1172 | 933 |
| 2002 | Newton v. Diamond | 204 F. Supp. 2d 1244 | 31 |
| 2000 | PTI, Inc. v. Philip Morris Inc. | 100 F. Supp. 2d 1179 | 24 |
| 2005 | Hernandez v. Sullivan | 397 F. Supp. 2d 1205 | 19 |
| 2003 | Heighley v. J.C. Penney Life Insurance | 257 F. Supp. 2d 1241 | 19 |
| 2001 | Forum Insurance v. Devere Ltd. | 151 F. Supp. 2d 1145 | 16 |
| 2005 | Mattel, Inc. v. Bryant | 441 F. Supp. 2d 1081 | 14 |
| 2005 | Cortes v. Metropolitan Life Insurance | 380 F. Supp. 2d 1125 | 13 |
| 1999 | Latona v. Aetna U.S. Healthcare Inc. | 82 F. Supp. 2d 1089 | 12 |
| 2003 | Impress Communications v. Unumprovident Corp. | 335 F. Supp. 2d 1053 | 10 |
| 2001 | Federal Trade Commission v. Productive Marketing, Inc. | 136 F. Supp. 2d 1096 | 10 |
| 2002 | Independent Ink, Inc. v. Trident, Inc. | 210 F. Supp. 2d 1155 | 6 |
| 2000 | United States v. Furrow | 125 F. Supp. 2d 1170 | 6 |
| 2002 | US Care, Inc. v. Pioneer Life Ins. Co. of Ill. | 244 F. Supp. 2d 1057 | 3 |
| 2000 | United States v. Furrow | 125 F. Supp. 2d 1178 | 3 |
Showing the 15 most-cited of 17 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 Nora Margaret Manella?
- President William J. Clinton appointed Nora Margaret Manella to the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California in 1998.
- Was Nora Margaret Manella appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?
- Nora Margaret Manella was appointed by President William J. Clinton, a Democrat. JudicialFinder records the appointing president's party, not a judge's own politics.
- What was Nora Margaret Manella's confirmation vote?
- Nora Margaret Manella was confirmed by voice vote on October 21, 1998. No senator-by-senator tally was recorded.
- Which court was Nora Margaret Manella on?
- Nora Margaret Manella was a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.
Sources
Each fact on this page traces to a primary public record.
- FJC Biographical Directory
- Wikidata
- Portrait: California Second District Court of Appeal, Division Four (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.
7 years on the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California. Data as of 2026-08-10. Informational only; verify against the primary source before relying. Not a consumer report (FCRA).