AUSTIN - Last week, the U.S. Judicial Conference overhauled the policy governing random case assignment, limiting the ability of litigants to effectively choose judges in certain cases by where they file a lawsuit.
The policy, issued on March 12, addresses all civil actions that seek to challenge state or federal actions, whether by declaratory judgment or any form of injunctive relief.
In such cases, judges would be assigned through a district-wide random selection process, essentially blocking “judge shopping” for litigants who are thought to have preferred venues for filing litigation.
“Since 1995, the Judicial Conference has strongly supported the random assignment of cases and the notion that all district judges remain generalists,” said Judge Robert J. Conrad, Jr., secretary of the Conference.
“The random case-assignment policy deters judge-shopping and the assignment of cases based on the perceived merits or abilities of a particular judge. It promotes the impartiality of proceedings and bolsters public confidence in the federal Judiciary.”
Plaintiffs looking to file litigation in federal divisions where there aren’t a lot of judges is nothing new to Texas.
Judge Alan Albright is a former patent attorney who presides over the Western District of Texas’ Waco Division. He was assigned to the highest number of patent cases from 2021 to 2023 with more than 1,800 cases, according to a Lex Machina report.
In July 2022, then Chief U.S. District Judge Orlando Garcia signed an order randomly assigning patent cases filed in the Waco Division “in an effort to equitably distribute those cases.”
The numbers would indicate the order had an impact.
In 2021, the Western District saw 984 patent cases, which dropped to 879 in 2022 and then dropped again in 2023 to 519 cases.