Allen Cothrel Winsor

How Judge Winsor rules, drawn from 25 signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.

Court
United States District Court for the Northern District of Florida
Position
District judge
Appointed by
Donald J. Trump (Republican)
Commissioned
June 21, 2019
Education
Auburn University, B.S.B.A. (1997); University of Florida, Fredric G. Levin College of Law, J.D. (2002, Order of the Coif; Editor-in-Chief, Florida Law Review)
Signed orders read
25

About Judge Winsor

Allen Cothrel Winsor is a judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Florida. Appointed by President Donald J. Trump, Judge Winsor received a commission on June 21, 2019.

Judge Winsor's practices and standing orders

The court's website lists no individual practices or standing orders of Judge Winsor's own (checked October 9, 2026), so the court's local rules and general orders are the place to look (court page ↗).

Standing orders for every case in this court

Orders the court applies to all of its cases, whichever judge has them, as published on the court's website (checked October 9, 2026).

Key rules from these orders · The court's local rules ↗

How Judge Winsor decides

Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.

What persuades

At summary judgment, he treated conclusory expert labels such as 'grossly negligent' as insufficient to create a factual dispute. Deliberate-indifference claims required record evidence showing more than malpractice or misdiagnosis.

“On summary judgment, a court cannot accept an expert's legal conclusions; it must instead examine the expert affidavit itself to see if a genuine dispute of material fact is presented.”

In Lamonier, the court granted partial immigration habeas relief after finding the government had not shown that the entry-fiction doctrine displaced the circuit rule for a person apprehended in the interior. The order required a bond hearing or release within seven days.

“The government has not clearly shown the entry fiction doctrine applies under these circumstances.”

Procedural preferences

In Schooley v. Option One Mortgage Corp., Winsor considered the plaintiff's objections to a magistrate judge's recommendation de novo, adopted the recommendation, and dismissed the claims against Option One with prejudice while leaving the remaining claims for further proceedings.

“I have also considered de novo this issues raised in Plaintiff’s objections. ECF No. 32. I have determined the report and recommendation should be adopted.”

In Anderson, Winsor treated an exhaustion defense raised in a summary judgment filing as a dismissal motion, dismissed without prejudice, and did not reach the prisoner’s merits claims.

“The dismissal will be without prejudice, and I do not reach the merits.”

Cautions

In Schooley v. Option One Mortgage, Winsor declined another amendment after the plaintiff had already amended several times. He dismissed the Consumer Financial Protection Act claims with prejudice for failure to state a claim and dismissed the remaining quiet-title claims without prejudice after declining supplemental jurisdiction.

“he has had multiple opportunities to amend, and I have determined there should be no further leave to amend.”

In Kesling v. State of Florida, Winsor dismissed a petition challenging a Florida detainer as untimely, without reaching the merits, and denied a certificate of appealability.

“I agree with the magistrate judge and the State that the petition is untimely. It will be dismissed on that basis. I therefore need not address the merits.”

Signed rulings

A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.

Mark Mann v. Dr. C. Calderon, et al.
1:17-cv-00241-AW-GRJ · 2021-03-30
Summary judgment (defendant) Granted

“I therefore conclude that Dr. Calderon is entitled to summary judgment. I also conclude that the other defendants are entitled to summary judgment for the reasons the magistrate judge explains. ... All claims are now dismissed on the merits. Plaintiff Mark Mann shall recover nothing from this action.”

American Contractors Indemnity Co., et al. v. Allan Spear Construction LLC, et al.
1:21-cv-00021-AW-GRJ · 2021-10-12
Default judgment (plaintiff) Granted

“The motion for default judgment (ECF No. 17) and the motion for fees and costs (ECF No. 22) are GRANTED.”

Motion for attorney fees (plaintiff) Granted

“The motion for default judgment (ECF No. 17) and the motion for fees and costs (ECF No. 22) are GRANTED. ... It will also include $8,083.50 in fees and $1,111.98 in costs ... determine the requested fees to be reasonable.”

Retcnick Fausten v. AT&T Services, Inc.
4:21-cv-00016-AW-MAF · 2021-12-28
Involuntary dismissal (defendant) Granted

“The Defendant’s motion for involuntary dismissal (ECF No. 79) is GRANTED.”

Alternative Materials, LLC v. TCH Construction Group, Inc., et al.
5:20-cv-00239-AW-MJF · 2022-07-05
Summary judgment Denied

“I agree with the magistrate judge's analysis and adopt the report and recommendation in full. The motion for summary judgment (ECF No. 54) is DENIED.”

Glen Schooley v. Option One Mortgage Corp. (a/k/a Sand Canyon Corp.), et al.
5:21-cv-00219-AW-MJF · 2022-10-03
Motions to dismiss (defendant) Granted

“The motion to dismiss (ECF No. 28) is GRANTED. Plaintiff's claims against Option One Mortgage Corporation are dismissed with prejudice for failure to state a claim. Plaintiff may not amend for the reasons set out in the report and recommendation.”

Jacob Waller v. James Kight, et al.
1:21-cv-00196-AW-ZCB · 2023-02-27
Summary judgment (defendant) Granted

“The motion for partial summary judgment (ECF No. 33) is GRANTED. All claims against the movants are dismissed on the merits, except for the Eighth Amendment excessive-force claims against Defendants Kight and Lord, which the motion did not address.”

Motions to dismiss (defendant) Moot / procedural

“The motion to dismiss (ECF No. 26) is DENIED as moot.”

Glen Schooley v. Sand Canyon Corp., Linda Flowers & Sharon Cason
5:21-cv-00219-AW-MJF · 2023-05-16
Motions to dismiss (defendant) Granted

“The motions to dismiss (ECF No. 78, 82) are GRANTED. ... All claims against Defendant Sand Canyon Corporation are dismissed with prejudice for failure to state a claim. The Count One claims against Defendants Linda Flowers and Sharon Cason are dismissed with prejudice for failure to state a claim. The Count Three claims ... are dismissed without prejudice because the court declines to exercise supplemental jurisdiction over them.”

Motion for leave (plaintiff) Granted

“The motion for leave to file untimely objections (ECF No. 86) is GRANTED, and the objections (ECF No. 87) are deemed timely.”

Anthony Aubrey Yawn v. John Palmer, et al.
1:22-cv-00249-AW-HTC · 2023-05-18
Screening dismissal 1915a (court) Granted

“This action is dismissed with prejudice under 28 U.S.C. 1915A(b)(1) for failure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted.”

Motion for leave to supplement (plaintiff) Denied

“The motion for leave to supplement (ECF No. 17) is DENIED.”

Shawn M. Kesling v. State of Florida
1:20-cv-00143-AW-MAF · 2023-05-23
Habeas petition (petitioner) Denied

“I agree with the magistrate judge and the State that the petition is untimely. It will be dismissed on that basis. ... The clerk will enter a judgment that says, 'The 2241 petition is dismissed as untimely.' A certificate of appealability is DENIED.”

Kirklynn J. Ferrell v. Secretary, Dep't of Corrections
4:22-cv-00401-AW-ZCB · 2023-05-30
Motions to dismiss (respondent) Granted

“The motion to dismiss (ECF No. 12) is GRANTED. The clerk will enter a judgment that says, 'The 2254 petition is dismissed for lack of subject matter jurisdiction.'”

Haynes v. Burnham
4:23-cv-127-AW-MAF · 2023-06-12
Motion to transfer venue (plaintiff) Granted

“GRANTED. The clerk will take appropriate steps to transfer this case to the United”

Setts v. Dixon
1:23-cv-99-AW-HTC · 2023-06-21
Petition for removal (petitioner) Denied

“The petition for removal (ECF No. 2) is DENIED.”

Caseload & timing

From public federal docket records for this judge.

Median case duration in the sampled dockets: 207.5 days (N = 20).

Median motion-to-ruling time: 7 days (N = 3).

  • A January 2021 cohort (20 terminated civil cases) plus a June 2026 pending enumeration show a broad N.D.
  • Fla. district docket: heavy prisoner civil-rights (42:1983) and state habeas (2254), plus employment discrimination (Title VII / 42:1981 / 42:1983), property/flood insurance (Wright Flood, Allstate, Blackboard), diversity breach-of-contract, product liability (Zoll Medical), patent (ABC IP v. Mercier & Sons), mortgage/foreclosure, and general civil rights.
  • Cases are referred to the division's magistrate judges for reports and recommendations.

Pending matters in the official report

Reported by the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts under the Civil Justice Reform Act, as of March 31, 2026.

Motions pending more than six months1
Bench trials submitted more than six months0
Bankruptcy appeals pending more than six months0
Social Security appeals pending more than six months0
Civil cases pending more than three years2
ReportMotions over six monthsCases over three years
Mar 202612
Sep 202500
Mar 202500
Sep 202400
Mar 202400
Sep 202300
Mar 202301
Sep 202230
Mar 202231
Sep 202101
Mar 202171
Sep 202000

A snapshot on that date: matters listed may since have been decided or reassigned. A motion referred to a magistrate judge is counted for both judges. Motions in multidistrict litigation, section 2255 cases and Social Security appeals are not counted, and a very large three-year count is generally a multidistrict docket. Source: Appendix A of the report (PDF); about the report.

How long civil cases take in this court

For the whole of United States District Court for the Northern District of Florida, not for Judge Winsor: median time from filing to disposition of the civil cases the court closed in the 12 months ending September 30, 2025, as reported by the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts.

CasesMedian time
All civil cases closed148,42847.7 months
Closed with no court action303 months
Closed before pretrial148,38547.7 months
Closed during or after pretrial4not reported
Closed during trial9not reported
12 months endingCases closedMedian time
Sep 2025148,42847.7 months
Sep 2024140,47943.4 months
Sep 202336,30727.8 months
Sep 202257,84521.8 months
Sep 202114,9725.3 months
Sep 20206,0386.7 months
Sep 20191,1487.5 months

The table leaves out prisoner petitions, land condemnations, deportation reviews, recovery of overpayments and enforcement of judgments, and reports no median for fewer than 10 cases. A district that closed a large multidistrict litigation in the period shows very large counts and long medians for that year. Source: Table C-5, U.S. District Courts (spreadsheet).

Draft for Judge Winsor with the record in hand

Ezel grounds your drafting and research in this profile: what has persuaded Judge Winsor, and what has not, cited to the signed orders.

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