Dena M. Coggins
How Judge Coggins decides
Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
Cautions
Grants a defendant's motion for summary judgment and enters judgment for the defendant, closing the case.
“2. Defendants' motion for summary judgment (Doc. No. 57) is granted; 3. Judgment shall be entered in favor of Defendants; and 4. The Clerk of the Court is directed to close this case.”
Signed rulings
A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.
“2. Defendants' motion for summary judgment (Doc. No. 57) is granted; 3. Judgment shall be entered in favor of Defendants; and 4. The Clerk of the Court is directed to close this case.”
Sua sponte screening disposition under 28 U.S.C. Section 1915A. The magistrate found cognizable Eighth Amendment excessive-force and First Amendment retaliation claims and recommended dismissing the remaining claims without leave to amend because no amended complaint had been filed. With no objections, Coggins adopted the recommendation after de novo review. The order states: '1. The findings and recommendations issued on January 28, 2025 (Doc. No. 14) are ADOPTED in full... 3. All other claims... and all other defendants... are dismissed.'
Caseload & timing
From public federal docket records for this judge.
Because Coggins joined the court in September 2024, her caseload is dominated by a June 2026 surge of immigration-detention habeas petitions, along with inherited prisoner civil-rights cases and general consumer or product disputes. Many merits dispositions so far have involved district-court action on magistrate-judge recommendations.
Put Judge Coggins's record to work
Ezel drafts and answers grounded in this exact profile: how Judge Coggins actually rules, not a generic AI guess.
Opens in Ezel Pro. Every answer is grounded in Judge Coggins's own signed orders and cites them.