Who appointed Richard House Kyle?

President George H.W. Bush appointed Richard House Kyle to the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota in 1992.

Was Richard House Kyle appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?

Richard House Kyle was appointed by President George H.W. Bush, a Republican. JudicialFinder records the appointing president's party, not a judge's own politics.

What was Richard House Kyle's confirmation vote?

Richard House Kyle was confirmed by voice vote on May 12, 1992. No senator-by-senator tally was recorded.

District of Minnesota / Appointed 1992 / Served to 2021

Richard House Kyle

Judge, U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota

Appointed by President George H.W. Bush in 1992 and confirmed by voice vote, Richard House Kyle was a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota. He earned a law degree from University of Minnesota Law School in 1962. Rulings & record ↓ Sources ↓

Lived: 1937–2021
Appointed by: George H.W. Bush, 1992
Confirmed: by voice vote
Education: University of Minnesota 1959 · University of Minnesota Law School 1962
Succeeded: Robert George Renner
Succeeded by: Patrick Joseph Schiltz

Federal judicial service

Year	Court	Appointed by	Vote
1992	District of Minnesota succeeded Robert George Renner	G.H.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 Minnesota	B.A.	1959
University of Minnesota Law School	LL.B.	1962

Judicial Record

Caseload & case types

In our data, Kyle was assigned 7,114 district-court cases (1980–2017). Median time from filing to termination: 196 days across 7,114 closed cases.

Personal-injury torts23%

Contract14%

Civil rights13%

Property torts10%

Labor & ERISA10%

Prisoner & habeas8%

Other21%

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 212 of Kyle’s decisions reviewed on the merits by the U.S. courts of appeals in our data, 189 were affirmed, 13 reversed or vacated, and 10 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, Kyle authored 199 published opinions for the court (1992–2011). Most cited: In Re Medtronic, Inc. Sprint Fidelis Leads Products Liability Litigation (84 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	In Re Medtronic, Inc. Sprint Fidelis Leads Products Liability Litigation	592 F. Supp. 2d 1147	84
2007	Parker v. Rowland Express, Inc.	492 F. Supp. 2d 1159	57
1993	Jenson v. Eveleth Taconite Co.	824 F. Supp. 847	55
2005	Smith v. Heartland Automotive Services, Inc.	404 F. Supp. 2d 1144	48
2003	Stephenson v. Deutsche Bank AG	282 F. Supp. 2d 1032	40
1994	Zumbro, Inc. v. California Natural Products	861 F. Supp. 773	38
2008	Medtronic, Inc. v. Endologix, Inc.	530 F. Supp. 2d 1054	37
2011	Cummins Law Office, P.A. v. Norman Graphic Printing Co.	826 F. Supp. 2d 1127	35
2008	Motley v. Homecomings Financial, LLC	557 F. Supp. 2d 1005	29
1995	Smith v. Babbitt	875 F. Supp. 1353	29
1996	Radisson Hotels International, Inc. v. Westin Hotel Co.	931 F. Supp. 638	28
1994	Medical Graphics Corp. v. SensorMedics Corp.	872 F. Supp. 643	27
1993	Appletree Square 1 Ltd. Partnership v. W.R. Grace & Co.	815 F. Supp. 1266	26
1995	Reiff v. Interim Personnel, Inc.	906 F. Supp. 1280	22
2009	Austin v. Nestle USA, Inc.	677 F. Supp. 2d 1134	20

Showing the 15 most-cited of 199 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 Richard House Kyle?: President George H.W. Bush appointed Richard House Kyle to the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota in 1992.
Was Richard House Kyle appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?: Richard House Kyle was appointed by President George H.W. Bush, a Republican. JudicialFinder records the appointing president's party, not a judge's own politics.
What was Richard House Kyle's confirmation vote?: Richard House Kyle was confirmed by voice vote on May 12, 1992. No senator-by-senator tally was recorded.
Which court was Richard House Kyle on?: Richard House Kyle was a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota.

Sources

Each fact on this page traces to a primary public record.

How we source & reconcile data → Data & Sources

See something wrong? Report an error. Fixes are logged in the corrections log.

29 years on the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota. Data as of 2026-08-10. Informational only; verify against the primary source before relying. Not a consumer report (FCRA).