Donald Marsh Middlebrooks (born December 31, 1946) is a
United States district judge
The United States district courts are the trial courts of the U.S. federal judiciary. There is one district court for each federal judicial district. Each district covers one U.S. state or a portion of a state. There is at least one feder ...
of the
.
Education and career
Middlebrooks was born in
Orlando, Florida
Orlando ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Orange County, Florida, United States. The city proper had a population of 307,573 at the 2020 census, making it the fourth-most populous city in Florida behind Jacksonville, Florida, Jacksonville ...
. He received a
Bachelor of Science in Business Administration
A Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) is an undergraduate degree in business administration awarded by colleges and universities after completion of four years and typically 120 credits of undergraduate study in the fundamentals of business ...
degree from the
University of Florida
The University of Florida (Florida or UF) is a public university, public land-grant university, land-grant research university in Gainesville, Florida, United States. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida and a preem ...
in 1968. He received a
Juris Doctor
A Juris Doctor, Doctor of Jurisprudence, or Doctor of Law (JD) is a graduate-entry professional degree that primarily prepares individuals to practice law. In the United States and the Philippines, it is the only qualifying law degree. Other j ...
from the
Fredric G. Levin College of Law
The University of Florida Levin College of Law (UF Law) is the law school of the University of Florida located in Gainesville, Florida. Founded in 1909, it is the oldest operating public law school in Florida and second oldest overall in the stat ...
at the University of Florida in 1972, and had served as student government president during his time in law school.
From 1973 to 1974, Middlebrooks was in private practice in Orlando, and was an assistant general counsel, governmental assistant, and general counsel for
Governor
A governor is an politician, administrative leader and head of a polity or Region#Political regions, political region, in some cases, such as governor-general, governors-general, as the head of a state's official representative. Depending on the ...
Reubin Askew
Reubin O'Donovan Askew (September 11, 1928 – March 13, 2014) was an American politician, who served as the 37th governor of Florida from 1971 to 1979. A member of the Democratic Party, he served as the 7th U.S. trade representative from 1979 ...
from 1974 to 1977. He returned to private practice for the next twenty years in
West Palm Beach, Florida
West Palm Beach is a city in and the county seat of Palm Beach County, Florida, United States. It is located immediately to the west of the adjacent Palm Beach, Florida, Palm Beach, which is situated on a barrier island across the Lake Worth Lag ...
.
Federal judicial service
On January 7, 1997, President
Bill Clinton
William Jefferson Clinton (né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician and lawyer who was the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, ...
nominated Middlebrooks to serve as a United States district judge of the
. He was nominated to the seat vacated by Judge
James W. Kehoe. He was confirmed by the
United States Senate
The United States Senate is a chamber of the Bicameralism, bicameral United States Congress; it is the upper house, with the United States House of Representatives, U.S. House of Representatives being the lower house. Together, the Senate and ...
on May 23, 1997, and received his commission on May 27, 1997.
Notable cases
* ''Electronic Frontier Foundation vs. Shipping & Transit'' (2016): Middlebrooks dismissed the case against
patent troll
In international law and business, patent trolling or patent hoarding is a categorical or pejorative term applied to a person or company that attempts to enforce patent rights against accused infringers far beyond the patent's actual value or ...
Martin Kelly Jones (Case No.:16-CV-80855-MIDDLEBROOKS/BRANNON).
* ''
Donald J. Trump v. Hillary R. Clinton, et.al (2022)'': Middlebrooks dismissed the suit brought by
Donald Trump
Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who is the 47th president of the United States. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served as the 45 ...
against
Hillary Clinton
Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton ( Rodham; born October 26, 1947) is an American politician, lawyer and diplomat. She was the 67th United States secretary of state in the administration of Barack Obama from 2009 to 2013, a U.S. senator represent ...
, the
Democratic National Committee
The Democratic National Committee (DNC) is the principal executive leadership board of the United States's Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party. According to the party charter, it has "general responsibility for the affairs of the ...
, and 26 others, seeking damages for alleged conduct surrounding the
2016 presidential election.
Donald J. Trump v Hillary R Clinton, et. al.
' (2022), US District Court for the Southern District of Florida (2:22-cv-14102-DMM Document 267), p.2. p.65 Middlebrooks concluded that "most of Plaintiff’s claims are not only unsupported by any legal authority but plainly foreclosed by binding precedent as set forth by the Supreme Court and the Eleventh Circuit." and that Trump "is not attempting to seek redress for any legal harm; instead, he is seeking to flaunt a two-hundred-page political manifesto outlining his grievances against those that have opposed him, and this Court is not the appropriate forum."
Two months after he dismissed the case, Middlebrooks assessed Trump's lawyers $50,000 in penalties, plus $16,000 to cover the legal fees paid by one of the defendants. In a later ruling, he imposed additional sanctions of $937,989.39 on Trump and his lead law firm in the litigation for bringing a lawsuit “in bad faith for an improper purpose” that “needlessly harmed” the defendants, “in order to dishonestly advance a political narrative.”
References
External links
*
1946 births
Living people
20th-century American judges
20th-century American lawyers
21st-century American judges
Judges of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida
Lawyers from Orlando, Florida
United States district court judges appointed by Bill Clinton
University of Florida alumni
Members of the American Law Institute
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