Harold Dean Mooty III
How Judge Mooty decides
Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
What persuades
He treated evidence touching each integrated-enterprise factor as enough to require a jury determination rather than summary judgment.
“there is some evidence of each of the four factors of the integrated enterprise or single employer test”
He allowed a credit-reporting claim to proceed where the pleaded facts supported a plausible inference that the report lacked a permissible purpose.
“Yarbrough has plausibly alleged a violation of § 1681b for failure to ensure a permissible purpose.”
Procedural preferences
Before imposing case-ending discovery sanctions, he required a concrete showing of prejudice rather than a generalized complaint about delay.
“no concrete examples of such prejudice”
He found dismissal with prejudice appropriate only after escalating measures—including extensions, a compel order, fees, and a warning—failed to secure compliance.
“Mr. Tolliver’s conduct is contumacious and that lesser sanctions would not suffice to ensure compliance.”
Cautions
A request to reopen did not cure earlier pleading defects where the movant failed to attach a proposed amended complaint.
“it does not attach a proposed amended complaint that might cure them.”
He treated a generic retaliation theory under the Equal Protection Clause as legally unavailable.
“A pure or generic retaliation claim, however, simply does not implicate the Equal Protection Clause.”
Signed rulings
A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.
“to dismiss, (doc. 31), is DENIED.”
“Therefore, the court GRANTS Runergy’s motion to dismiss, (doc. 27), and”
“National’s motion for default judgment on its declaratory judgment claim is GRANTED.”
He dismissed the case without prejudice for failure to prosecute without reaching the pending summary-judgment motion. Quote: “this case is DISMISSED WITHOUT PREJUDICE for Dotson’s failure to prosecute.”
“their request for reconsideration, (doc. 66), is DENIED.”
“summary judgment, (doc. 37), is DENIED.”
“summary judgment (Doc. 41) and DISMISSES the case.”
He adopted an unopposed recommendation and dismissed the habeas action without prejudice for failure to comply with a court order. Quote: “action is DISMISSED WITHOUT PREJUDICE pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 41(b)”.
“Turner’s Motion to Reopen, (doc. 14), is DENIED.”
“Pleadings, (doc. 14), is GRANTED IN PART and DENIED IN PART.”
“For the reasons stated herein, Defendant Pete Hegseth’s Motion to Dismiss, (doc. 35), is GRANTED IN PART and DENIED IN PART.”
Caseload & timing
From public federal docket records for this judge.
Median motion-to-ruling time: 11 days (N = 17).
The 20 returned post-commission cases included prisoner, habeas, Social Security, civil-rights, insurance, criminal, and other statutory matters. The case-level snapshot labeled all 20 pending, although several entry timelines already contained dismissal orders, so the status count should not be treated as current.
Put Judge Mooty's record to work
Ezel drafts and answers grounded in this exact profile: how Judge Mooty actually rules, not a generic AI guess.
Opens in Ezel Pro. Every answer is grounded in Judge Mooty's own signed orders and cites them.