William Odis Bertelsman
Appointed by President Jimmy Carter in 1979 and confirmed by voice vote, William Odis Bertelsman is a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky. He earned a law degree from University of Cincinnati College of Law in 1961. Rulings & record ↓ Sources ↓
- Born
- 1936 · age 90
- Appointed by
- Jimmy Carter, 1979
- Confirmed
- by voice vote
- Education
- Xavier, Ohio 1958 · University of Cincinnati College of Law 1961
- Succeeded by
- David L. Bunning
Federal judicial service
| Year | Court | Appointed by | Vote |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1979 | Eastern District of Kentucky | Carter (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
| Xavier University, Ohio | A.B. | 1958 |
| University of Cincinnati College of Law | J.D. | 1961 |
Judicial Record
Caseload & case types
In our data, Bertelsman was assigned 3,991 district-court cases (1984–2022). Median time from filing to termination: 242 days across 3,991 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 272 of Bertelsman’s decisions reviewed on the merits by the U.S. courts of appeals in our data, 223 were affirmed, 32 reversed or vacated, and 17 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, Bertelsman authored 132 published opinions for the court (1980–2011). Most cited: Darnell v. Campbell County Fiscal Court (47 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A selective record from published opinions in the CourtListener corpus, not every ruling; most unpublished district orders are not included.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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1990 | Darnell v. Campbell County Fiscal Court | 731 F. Supp. 1309 | 47 |
| 1980 | United States v. Zenni | 492 F. Supp. 464 | 41 |
| 1986 | United States v. Reaves | 636 F. Supp. 1575 | 39 |
| 1981 | Bedell v. H.R.C. Ltd. | 522 F. Supp. 732 | 39 |
| 1992 | Averdick v. Republic Financial Services, Inc. | 803 F. Supp. 37 | 31 |
| 1988 | Kordenbrock v. Scroggy | 680 F. Supp. 867 | 29 |
| 1987 | Howes v. Atkins | 668 F. Supp. 1021 | 28 |
| 1984 | Bryant v. Allstate Insurance | 592 F. Supp. 39 | 25 |
| 1985 | Northwestern National Insurance v. Osborne | 610 F. Supp. 126 | 24 |
| 1980 | Stanley Electric Contractors, Inc. v. Darin & Armstrong Co. | 486 F. Supp. 769 | 24 |
| 2006 | Lassiter v. Lassiter | 456 F. Supp. 2d 876 | 21 |
| 1993 | Bright Lights, Inc. v. City of Newport | 830 F. Supp. 378 | 21 |
| 1982 | C & S FUEL, INC. v. Clark Equipment Co. | 552 F. Supp. 340 | 21 |
| 1981 | Petrey v. Flaugher | 505 F. Supp. 1087 | 21 |
| 1997 | Rice v. Cincinnati, New Orleans & Pacific Railway Co. | 955 F. Supp. 739 | 20 |
Showing the 15 most-cited of 132 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 William Odis Bertelsman?
- President Jimmy Carter appointed William Odis Bertelsman to the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky in 1979.
- Was William Odis Bertelsman appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?
- William Odis Bertelsman was appointed by President Jimmy Carter, a Democrat. JudicialFinder records the appointing president's party, not a judge's own politics.
- What was William Odis Bertelsman's confirmation vote?
- William Odis Bertelsman was confirmed by voice vote on November 26, 1979. No senator-by-senator tally was recorded.
- Which court is William Odis Bertelsman on?
- William Odis Bertelsman is a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky.
Sources
Each fact on this page traces to a primary public record.
- FJC Biographical Directory
- Wikidata
- Portrait: Administrative Office of the United States Courts (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.
46 years on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky. Data as of 2026-08-10. Informational only; verify against the primary source before relying. Not a consumer report (FCRA).