Charles Robert Wolle
How Judge Wolle decides
Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
What persuades
In ERISA retiree-benefit disputes Wolle anchors the analysis in the controlling written plan documents and the reservation-of-rights language, treating unambiguous plan text as controlling over alleged oral promises of lifetime benefits. In Brubaker v. Deere, after a full liability bench trial, he held the written plans unambiguously reserved Deere's right to change benefits, so retirees could not reasonably rely on contrary oral representations. Practical lesson: a retiree-benefits plaintiff before this judge must overcome clear reservation-of-rights language in the plan, not merely point to oral assurances.
“this court concludes judgment must be entered in favor of Deere on all claims brought by the plaintiffs, with taxable costs to be paid by plaintiffs.”
Procedural preferences
Wolle prefers to resolve a contested motion to dismiss without foreclosing the issue prematurely: in Eggers v. Wells Fargo (docket layer) he denied the bank's motion to dismiss the Iowa-Civil-Rights-Act claims 'without prejudice to defendant reasserting its grounds for ending this case by motion for summary judgment,' i.e. routing a fact-laden challenge to the summary-judgment stage rather than dismissing on the pleadings. Counsel should expect threshold legal challenges that depend on a developed record to be pushed to summary judgment.
“ORDER denying 47 Motion to Dismiss without prejudice to defendant reasserting its grounds for ending this case by motion for summary judgment. Signed by Senior Judge Charles R. Wolle on 9/11/2015.”
Motion outcomes
Counted from classified signed orders only. Percentages are shown only where the sample is large enough to be meaningful; smaller samples are reported as raw counts.
| Motion for partial summary judgment N = 1 |
Granted: 1 | counts only |
A "1 of 1" is one ruling, not a tendency. Treat small samples as illustrative, not predictive.
Signed rulings
A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.
“The court grants the EEOC motion for partial summary judgment.”
ERISA class action by Deere retirees alleging Deere promised lifetime fixed retiree medical benefits and breached them via its 2008 'Healthy Directions' program. After expedited discovery and a bifurcated bench trial on liability (Sept. 21 - Oct. 2, 2009), Wolle entered judgment for Deere on all claims, holding the written plan documents unambiguously reserved Deere's right to change benefits and retirees could not reasonably rely on contrary oral representations. This is a post-trial final judgment, NOT a ruling on a party motion -- recorded as an order read, excluded from motion stats. Full opinion text read via docket records get_case.
Caseload & timing
From public federal docket records for this judge.
Median case duration in the sampled dockets: 413 days (N = 7).
Median motion-to-ruling time: 94 days (N = 3).
Sample of ~17 dockets that docket lists with Charles Robert Wolle as assigned judge (excluding the 3 suits naming Wolle as a defendant, assigned to other judges), filed 1998-2020. Mix of civil-rights/employment (Title VII, ADA), ERISA, securities, FELA, and a substantial run of Social Security disability appeals. Treat this as a rough caseload shape, not a census.