Karon Owen Bowdre
Judge Bowdre no longer hears cases. This profile is preserved as a historical record of how they ruled.
How Judge Bowdre decides
Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
What persuades
She treated practical use of an insured vehicle, not physical contact alone, as sufficient where the employee was performing work integral to the vehicle’s purpose.
“To cover a sanitation department employee for liability insurance purposes when he was using the insured sanitation truck to perform his work but then deny him coverage for personal injuries or death caused by an uninsured motorist while he was using that same truck violates the purpose of the statutory mandate behind uninsured motorist coverage.”
She required record evidence connecting a defendant to the alleged harmful activity before allowing claims to proceed.
“Plaintiffs have failed to introduce sufficient evidence to raise a genuine issue of material fact as to Defendant PinnOak Coal Sales, LLC’s involvement in the ownership, operation, or management of the Concord Coal Preparation Plant (‘Plant’);”
Procedural preferences
She separated each request in a multi-motion ERISA record and addressed withdrawal, evidentiary scope, remand, and merits independently.
“In sum, for the reasons stated above, the court finds as follows:”
When a ruling required a narrower factual record, she reserved the unresolved portion and directed the parties to confer on a joint proposal.
“The parties are ORDERED to meet and confer and, within thirty days from the entry of this order, present to the court a joint proposal for addressing this issue.”
Cautions
She viewed a preemptive federal declaratory filing made after repeated requests for a coverage decision as procedural fencing.
“Allstate has engaged in ‘procedural fencing’ by filing a declaratory judgment action in federal court when all of the issues surrounding Ivey’s property loss could not be resolved.”
Under deferential administrative review, she emphasized that the court tests rationality and record support rather than substituting its preferred policy outcome.
“The court's role is to ensure that the agency came to a rational conclusion, not to conduct its own investigation.”
Signed rulings
A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.
“the court finds the motion is due to be granted, and this action dismissed without prejudice.”
“the ‘Plaintiffs Motion for Remand’ (doc. 5) is DENIED”
“the Defendant William Joe Kiser, Jr.’s ‘Motion to Dismiss’ (doc. 9) is GRANTED.”
“Plaintiffs Motion to Strike (Doc. 36) is due to be DENIED;”
“the motion is due to be DENIED on the remaining issue;”
“Plaintiffs Motion to Supplement the Record and alternative Motion to Re *1254 mand (Doc. 20) are both due to be DENIED;”
“Plaintiffs Motion for Partial Judgment on the Record is due to be DENIED and alternative Motion for Summary Judgment is due to be DENIED (Doc. 27);”
“Defendant’s Motion for Summary Judgment (Doc. 23), which the parties agreed to be a submission for a decision on the merits, is due to be GRANTED as to the counts set forth in the Complaint and due to be DENIED without prejudice as to the Counterclaim.”
“The court hereby DENIES Plaintiff Argonaut Great Central Insurance Company’s Motion for Summary Judgment (doc. 41)”
“GRANTS the Motion for Summary Judgment filed by Defendants Free Mitchell and Paul Mitchell (doc. 38).”
“U.S. Pipe’s motion (doc. 162), Phelps Dodge’s motion (doc. 165), FMC’s and United Defense’s motion (doc. 166), and MW Custom’s motion (doc. 168) will be GRANTED IN PART and DENIED IN PART”
“Plaintiffs’ motions for oral argument (docs. 175 & 181) will be DENIED.”
“Defendants’ and Intervenors’ motions for summary judgment, therefore, are GRANTED, and the Plaintiffs’ motion is DENIED.”
“the court GRANTS the motion to dismiss.”
“the court GRANTS Defendant’s motion and DISMISSES WITH PREJUDICE the entire action.”
After the parties agreed to submit liability for decision on the written record, the court held that the benefit denial was arbitrary and capricious. Quote: “the court ENTERS JUDGMENT in favor of Plaintiff Teresa Scarpulla and against Defendant Bayer Corporation Disability Plan.”
“Defendants’ Motion to Dismiss or, in the Alternative, for Summary Judgment (Doc. 8) is hereby GRANTED IN PART and DENIED IN PART.”
“Defendant Oak Grove’s Motion to Dismiss (Doc. 9), in which the remaining Defendants joined, is hereby DENIED.”
Caseload & timing
From public federal docket records for this judge.
Median case duration in the sampled dockets: 266.5 days (N = 20).
Median motion-to-ruling time: 37 days (N = 1).
The 20 located assigned cases were all later terminated and included employment, contract, civil-rights, insurance, personal-injury, trademark, habeas, Social Security, ERISA, and real-property matters. This narrow archival slice does not establish the distribution of Judge Bowdre’s full caseload.
A historical record
Judge Bowdre no longer hears cases. This profile stays available as a record of how they ruled. If you're preparing for a matter, start from the court's current bench.