Patrick J. Duggan
Appointed by President Ronald Reagan in 1986 and confirmed by voice vote, Patrick J. Duggan was a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan. He earned a law degree from University of Detroit Law School (now University of Detroit Mercy School of Law) in 1958. Rulings & record ↓ Sources ↓
- Lived
- 1933–2020
- Appointed by
- Ronald Reagan, 1986
- Confirmed
- by voice vote
- Education
- Xavier, Ohio 1955 · University of Detroit Law School (now of Detroit Mercy Law) 1958
- Succeeded by
- Stephen Joseph Murphy III
Federal judicial service
| Year | Court | Appointed by | Vote |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1986 | Eastern District of Michigan | 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
| Xavier University, Ohio | B.S. | 1955 |
| University of Detroit Law School (now University of Detroit Mercy School of Law) | LL.B. | 1958 |
Judicial Record
Caseload & case types
In our data, Duggan was assigned 6,322 district-court cases (1981–2015). Median time from filing to termination: 193 days across 6,320 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 163 of Duggan’s decisions reviewed on the merits by the U.S. courts of appeals in our data, 140 were affirmed, 11 reversed or vacated, and 12 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, Duggan authored 251 published opinions for the court (1987–2011). Most cited: Schenet v. Anderson (30 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A selective record from published opinions in the CourtListener corpus, not every ruling; most unpublished district orders are not included.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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1988 | Schenet v. Anderson | 678 F. Supp. 1280 | 30 |
| 2005 | Gratz v. Bollinger | 353 F. Supp. 2d 929 | 29 |
| 2002 | Wilson v. Birkett | 192 F. Supp. 2d 763 | 28 |
| 1998 | Thomas v. Straub | 10 F. Supp. 2d 834 | 28 |
| 2010 | Hart v. Countrywide Home Loans, Inc. | 735 F. Supp. 2d 741 | 26 |
| 1988 | Kelly v. Drake Beam Morin, Inc. | 695 F. Supp. 354 | 25 |
| 1999 | Akella v. Michigan Department of State Police | 67 F. Supp. 2d 716 | 22 |
| 1994 | Center for Creative Studies v. Aetna Life & Casualty Co. | 871 F. Supp. 941 | 21 |
| 2004 | McIntosh v. Booker | 300 F. Supp. 2d 498 | 17 |
| 2002 | Lewis v. Harper Hospital | 241 F. Supp. 2d 769 | 16 |
| 1996 | Neveux v. Webcraft Technologies, Inc. | 921 F. Supp. 1568 | 16 |
| 2008 | United States v. Bon Secours Cottage Health Services | 665 F. Supp. 2d 782 | 15 |
| 2000 | Bair v. Phillips | 106 F. Supp. 2d 934 | 15 |
| 1998 | Bittinger v. Tecumseh Products Co. | 83 F. Supp. 2d 851 | 15 |
| 1992 | Kocaj v. Chrysler Corp. | 794 F. Supp. 234 | 15 |
Showing the 15 most-cited of 251 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 Patrick J. Duggan?
- President Ronald Reagan appointed Patrick J. Duggan to the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan in 1986.
- Was Patrick J. Duggan appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?
- Patrick J. Duggan was appointed by President Ronald Reagan, a Republican. JudicialFinder records the appointing president's party, not a judge's own politics.
- What was Patrick J. Duggan's confirmation vote?
- Patrick J. Duggan was confirmed by voice vote on October 8, 1986. No senator-by-senator tally was recorded.
- Which court was Patrick J. Duggan on?
- Patrick J. Duggan was a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan.
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.
33 years on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan. Data as of 2026-08-10. Informational only; verify against the primary source before relying. Not a consumer report (FCRA).