Eastern District of California / Appointed 1982 / Served to 2012

Robert Everett Coyle

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

Appointed by President Ronald Reagan in 1982 and confirmed by voice vote, Robert Everett Coyle was a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California. He earned a law degree from University of California Hastings College of the Law (now UC College of the Law, San Francisco) in 1956. Rulings & record ↓ Sources ↓

Lived
1930–2012
Appointed by
Ronald Reagan, 1982
Confirmed
by voice vote
Education
Fresno State College (now California State, Fresno) 1953 · University of California Hastings College of the Law (now UC College of the Law, San Francisco) 1956
Succeeded by
Anthony W. Ishii

Federal judicial service

YearCourtAppointed byVote
1982Eastern District of CaliforniaReagan (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

Judicial Record

Caseload & case types

In our data, Coyle was assigned 5,856 district-court cases (1981–2010). Median time from filing to termination: 272 days across 5,853 closed cases.

Prisoner & habeas52%
Contract11%
Civil rights11%
Other federal statutes5%
Personal-injury torts4%
Social Security4%
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.

On appeal

Of 44 of Coyle’s decisions reviewed on the merits by the U.S. courts of appeals in our data, 40 were affirmed, 1 reversed or vacated, and 3 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, Coyle authored 57 published opinions for the court (1982–2006). Most cited: Kern-Tulare Water District v. City of Bakersfield (224 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A selective record from published opinions in the CourtListener corpus, not every ruling; most unpublished district orders are not included.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
1986Kern-Tulare Water District v. City of Bakersfield634 F. Supp. 656224
2000Pollstar v. Gigmania, Ltd.170 F. Supp. 2d 97432
1992Fobbs v. Holy Cross Health System Corp.789 F. Supp. 105429
1994E. & J. Gallo Winery v. F. & P. S.P.A.899 F. Supp. 46528
1998City of Merced v. Fields997 F. Supp. 132627
1989United States v. Edmonston99 B.R. 99524
1990Stanley Works v. Snydergeneral Corp.781 F. Supp. 65922
1986Rhoades v. Powell644 F. Supp. 64521
1996Bronco Wine Co. v. United States Department of Treasury997 F. Supp. 130917
1993Valdez v. United States837 F. Supp. 106517
1991Equal Employment Opportunity Commission v. Tortilleria \758 F. Supp. 58517
2005Foster v. CITY OF PRESNO392 F. Supp. 2d 114014
1994Pena v. McArthur889 F. Supp. 40314
1991In Re Roxford Foods Litigation790 F. Supp. 98714
2002Rennie v. Internal Revenue Service216 F. Supp. 2d 107813

Showing the 15 most-cited of 57 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 Robert Everett Coyle?
President Ronald Reagan appointed Robert Everett Coyle to the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California in 1982.
Was Robert Everett Coyle appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?
Robert Everett Coyle was appointed by President Ronald Reagan, a Republican. JudicialFinder records the appointing president's party, not a judge's own politics.
What was Robert Everett Coyle's confirmation vote?
Robert Everett Coyle was confirmed by voice vote on March 31, 1982. No senator-by-senator tally was recorded.
Which court was Robert Everett Coyle on?
Robert Everett Coyle was a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California.

Sources

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

How we source & reconcile data → Data & Sources

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