Kellie M. Barr

How Judge Barr rules, drawn from 7 signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.

Court
U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana
Position
magistrate
Commissioned
2022-11-01
Education
Indiana University - Bloomington (B.A. Psychology and B.A. Speech & Hearing Sciences, minor Spanish, 2003); Indiana University Maurer School of Law (J.D. 2006)
Signed orders read
7

How Judge Barr decides

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

What persuades

Rule 59(e) relief requires manifest error or newly discovered evidence; disagreement with how an administrative decision weighed a medical opinion did not suffice where the report was not incomplete and the decision built a logical bridge to the record.

“Because Christopher has not met the burden to show that the Court committed a manifest error of law warranting amending the judgment entered pursuant to Rule 59(e), the Court denies his Motion to Alter Judgment.”

Procedural preferences

Recommends dismissing a particular plaintiff's claims without prejudice and terminating that party from the docket; recommendation adopted.

“Magistrate Judge Kellie M. Barr has entered a Report and Recommendation, dkt. 110, recommending that the Court dismiss Plaintiff Anthony Boyd's claims without prejudice. ... The Court has considered and now ADOPTS the Report and Recommendation. Dkt. [110]. Anthony Boyd's claims are DISMISSED, and the clerk is directed to terminate him from the docket.”

After a scheduling deadline has passed, newly discovered evidence must explain why each proposed new claim could not have been raised earlier; a generalized account of new information did not establish Rule 16 diligence.

“When, as here, ‘a party presents an insufficiently robust explanation of why [it] was diligent, there is no good cause.’”

For expired deadlines, substitution of counsel did not show excusable neglect where the missed expert deadline predated prior counsel's withdrawal; a still-open discovery deadline received a limited extension for good cause.

“The Court DENIES Plaintiff's request to reset the expert disclosure deadlines, as Plaintiff has not met the requisite standard needed to do so. The Court GRANTS Plaintiff's request to reset the discovery deadline, such that all discovery in this case must be completed by October 5, 2026.”

Cautions

A qualified-immunity response must identify precedent defining the asserted right at a factually specific level; broad reliance on a Fourth Amendment false-arrest case did not clearly establish a due-process malicious-prosecution theory involving a business license.

“Mr. Patel's sole reliance on Olson fails to do this. And when ‘a plaintiff fails to identify analogous precedent clearly establishing the law, the district court must grant summary judgment for the defendant[s]’ because they are entitled to qualified immunity.”

Signed rulings

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

Lisa Smith, et al. v. Apria Healthcare LLC (Anthony Boyd plaintiff)
1:23-cv-01003-JPH-KMB · 2024-05-29
Dismissal of party claims (court) Granted

“Magistrate Judge Kellie M. Barr has entered a Report and Recommendation, dkt. 110, recommending that the Court dismiss Plaintiff Anthony Boyd's claims without prejudice. ... The Court has considered and now ADOPTS the Report and Recommendation. Dkt. [110]. Anthony Boyd's claims are DISMISSED, and the clerk is directed to terminate him from the docket.”

United States v. Kenneth Jones
1:10-cr-00003-SEB-MJD · 2025-06-20

Criminal supervised-release-revocation recommendation; Barr recommended revocation (12 months and one day plus 36 months of supervised release), adopted in full by District Judge Barker. Representative of Barr's dominant published footprint (Section 3401/3583 supervised-release-revocation recommendations). Excluded from civil motion stats. Quote: 'Having reviewed Magistrate Judge Kellie M. Barr's Report and Recommendation that Kenneth Jones's supervised release be revoked ... the Court now approves and adopts the Report and Recommendation as the entry of the Court, and orders a sentence imposed of imprisonment of 12 months and one ...'

Gage v. Sunny
1:25-cv-00318-JRS-KMB · 2026-07-07
Motion for extension of time (plaintiff) Granted in part

“The Court GRANTS IN PART AND DENIES IN PART Plaintiff's Motion asking that certain case management plan deadlines be reset or extended in this case. [Dkt. 43.]”

Christopher D. R. v. Bisignano
4:24-cv-00172-KMB-TWP · 2026-05-22
Motion to alter or amend judgment (plaintiff) Denied

“For the reasons explained herein, Christopher's Motion to Alter Judgment Pursuant to Rule 59(e) is DENIED. [Dkt. 19.]”

Green v. Green
1:24-cv-02229-JRO-KMB · 2026-06-29
Motions to strike (defendant) Granted in part

“Ms. Green's Motion to Strike, [dkt. 56], is GRANTED IN PART and DENIED IN PART.”

Patel v. Ahlersmeyer
1:24-cv-00489-KMB-JRS · 2026-03-23
Summary judgment (defendants) Granted

“Defendants Officer Ahlersmeyer and Detective Mastin are entitled to qualified immunity on Mr. Patel's § 1983 malicious prosecution claim. Their Motion for Summary Judgment is therefore GRANTED. [Dkt. 56.]”

Subaru of Indiana Automotive, Inc. v. Valeo Sylvania LLC
4:24-cv-00011-TWP-KMB · 2026-04-30
Motion for leave to amend (defendant) Denied

“For the reasons explained below, Valeo's Motion for Leave to File a Counterclaim is DENIED. [Dkt. 74.]”

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