Who appointed William Lindsay Osteen Sr.?

President George H.W. Bush appointed William Lindsay Osteen Sr. to the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina in 1991.

Was William Lindsay Osteen Sr. appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?

William Lindsay Osteen Sr. 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 William Lindsay Osteen Sr.'s confirmation vote?

William Lindsay Osteen Sr. was confirmed by voice vote on June 14, 1991. No senator-by-senator tally was recorded.

Middle District of North Carolina / Appointed 1991 / Served to 2007

William Lindsay Osteen Sr.

Judge, U.S. District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina

Appointed by President George H.W. Bush in 1991 and confirmed by voice vote, William Lindsay Osteen Sr. was a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina. He earned a law degree from University of North Carolina School of Law in 1956. Rulings & record ↓ Sources ↓

Lived: 1930–2009
Appointed by: George H.W. Bush, 1991
Confirmed: by voice vote
Education: Guilford College 1953 · University of North Carolina Law 1956
Succeeded by: William Lindsay Osteen Jr.

Federal judicial service

Year	Court	Appointed by	Vote
1991	Middle District of North Carolina	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

Guilford College	A.B.	1953
University of North Carolina School of Law	LL.B.	1956

Judicial Record

Caseload & case types

In our data, Osteen was assigned 3,541 district-court cases (1991–2006). Median time from filing to termination: 246 days across 3,538 closed cases.

Prisoner & habeas35%

Civil rights15%

Contract12%

Social Security11%

Personal-injury torts6%

Intellectual property4%

Other17%

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 101 of Osteen’s decisions reviewed on the merits by the U.S. courts of appeals in our data, 92 were affirmed, 9 reversed or vacated. 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, Osteen authored 132 published opinions for the court (1992–2006). Most cited: Plant Genetic Systems, N v. v. Ciba Seeds (120 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
1996	Plant Genetic Systems, N v. v. Ciba Seeds	933 F. Supp. 519	120
2005	Akeva L.L.C. v. Adidas America, Inc.	385 F. Supp. 2d 559	52
2004	Sheaffer v. County of Chatham	337 F. Supp. 2d 709	46
2002	Gantt v. Whitaker	203 F. Supp. 2d 503	42
2004	Eli Research, Inc. v. United Communications Group, LLC	312 F. Supp. 2d 748	36
2006	Bussian v. DaimlerChrysler Corp.	411 F. Supp. 2d 614	31
2005	Madison River Management Co. v. Business Management Software Corp.	351 F. Supp. 2d 436	31
1996	Plant Genetic Systems, N v. v. Ciba Seeds	933 F. Supp. 514	31
2005	Brown v. Institute for Family Centered Services, Inc.	394 F. Supp. 2d 724	26
2004	Davis v. Durham Mental Health Developmental Disabilities Substance Abuse Area Authority	320 F. Supp. 2d 378	26
2004	Dealers Supply Co., Inc. v. Cheil Industries, Inc.	348 F. Supp. 2d 579	25
1995	RPR & ASSOCIATES v. O'Brien/Atkins Associates	921 F. Supp. 1457	23
2005	Googerdy v. North Carolina Agricultural & Technical State University	386 F. Supp. 2d 618	22
2003	Norman v. Tradewinds Airlines, Inc.	286 F. Supp. 2d 575	22
2005	Badgett v. Federal Express Corp.	378 F. Supp. 2d 613	21

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 Lindsay Osteen Sr.?: President George H.W. Bush appointed William Lindsay Osteen Sr. to the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina in 1991.
Was William Lindsay Osteen Sr. appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?: William Lindsay Osteen Sr. 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 William Lindsay Osteen Sr.'s confirmation vote?: William Lindsay Osteen Sr. was confirmed by voice vote on June 14, 1991. No senator-by-senator tally was recorded.
Which court was William Lindsay Osteen Sr. on?: William Lindsay Osteen Sr. was a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina.

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.

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