Charles Mengel Allen

United States District Court for the Western District of Kentucky district Deceased · served 1971–1985 Appointed by Richard Nixon (Republican) 21 signed orders read

Judge Allen no longer hears cases. This profile is preserved as a historical record of how they ruled.

How Judge Allen decides

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

What persuades

Allen treated the policy language's causal requirement as controlling where a vehicle merely supplied the setting for an injury.

“use of the insured vehicle contributed anything other than one of the ‘conditions’ of the injury, as opposed to one of its ‘causes’.”

Allen protected confidential financial information when disclosure to a direct competitor would create concrete competitive harm.

“Here it is apparent that the release of the unaudited cost report of the plaintiff to one of its competitors would cause substantial harm to its competitive position.”

Allen favored a narrow statutory construction when a broader reading would create serious First Amendment problems.

“With all these pitfalls of constitutional dimension involved in an overly broad construction of ‘books’ in K.R.S. 218A.270, this Court does not believe the Kentucky Court of Appeals would so construe the term books.”

Procedural preferences

Allen expected deposition objections to remain focused and treated ordinary relevance objections as preserved without repeated interruptions.

“Objections on grounds of relevancy are automatically preserved for trial without the necessity of notation on the record.”

Allen allowed amendment after granting summary judgment on the existing pleadings when a more specific statutory theory might still support relief.

“the Court believes that the plaintiff should be allowed to file an amended complaint stating, in essence, that the information furnished them by the government and the Corps of Engineers is not in compliance with 42 U.S. C. § 4651(3), insofar as it does not advise the landowner in sufficient detail of the basis for the offer that is being made.”

Signed rulings

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

Nunn v. City of Paducah, Kentucky
· 1973-10-05
Motion to amend judgment (employee) Denied

“In light of the above, the Court is of the opinion that plaintiff’s motion to amend the judgment should be and it is hereby denied.”

Lincoln v. True
· 1975-06-03
Claim for unemployment benefits (former employee) Granted

“We have this day entered a judgment in accordance with this opinion directing that the defendants pay to the plaintiff the unemployment compensation benefits which she was denied as a result of her leaving the Philip Morris Company.”

Motion for attorneys fees (former employee) Denied

“Therefore, the motion for attorney’s fees must be denied.”

Wise v. United States
· 1973-11-21
Summary judgment (United States) Granted

“In conclusion, the motion for summary judgment on the pleadings as they now stand is granted, provided the plaintiff is given 20 days in which to amend his complaint to state a cause of action pursuant to the grounds outlined in the Court’s opinion.”

Wirth v. Maryland Casualty Company
· 1973-11-06
Summary judgment (injured claimant and insured's attorney) Denied

“Judgment will be entered this day in accordance with this Opinion, overruling the plaintiffs’ motion for partial summary judgment, and granting the defendant’s motion for summary judgment.”

Summary judgment (insurer) Granted
United States v. Yates
· 1973-06-13
Motion for discovery (criminal defendants) Granted in part

“Except for the portion of this opinion and order which directs the United States to produce for inspection and copying, all of defendants’ motions are overruled”

Kane v. McDaniel
· 1975-08-22
Summary judgment (book owner) Granted

“We hold that under the above definition of ‘books’ employed under K.R.S. 218A.270(l)(e), the facts reflect that the books involved herein do not fall within that definition and the plaintiff herein should be entitled to his books back on that basis, since they do not fall within the terms of the statute.”

McCoy v. Weinberger
· 1974-11-11
Summary judgment (nursing-home operator) Granted

“It is ordered and adjudged that the plaintiffs’ motion for summary judgment be and it is hereby sustained and the defendants’ motions to dismiss or in the alternative for summary judgment are overruled.”

Motion to dismiss or for summary judgment (federal officials) Denied
Class certification (nursing-home operator) Denied

“In conclusion, it is ordered that the motion of the plaintiffs for a class action certification is denied.”

Schmidt v. Wingo
· 1973-05-07
Civil rights claim (prisoner's estate) Denied

“Since Dr. Salb did not give a recommendation that plaintiff’s decedent be removed to an outside hospital, the Court • concludes that the plaintiff has failed to meet her burden of proof and, therefore, her complaint must be dismissed.”

United States v. Mattingly Bridge Co.
· 1972-02-02
Motions to dismiss (contractor and surety) Granted

“In view of what has been said, it follows that this action is not the type of action that was contemplated by the Miller Act and, therefore, that the motion of the defendants to dismiss should be sustained.”

Motion to abate (contractor) Denied

“The Court has this day entered an order dismissing the action and an order overruling the motion to abate.”

Benboe v. Carroll
· 1977-11-02
Motion for attorneys fees (state defendants) Granted

“We believe that attorneys’ fees should be awarded to the defendants against Johnson Bonding Company”

Logsdon v. Scroggy
· 1984-09-27
Motions to dismiss (Commonwealth) Granted

“After due consideration, we sustain the motion to dismiss.”

Wright v. Firestone Tire & Rubber Co.
· 1982-03-24
Motion for court supervised deposition (employer) Denied

“IT IS ORDERED that defendant’s motion to assign the taking of plaintiff’s deposition before the Court be and it is hereby overruled.”

Motion for discovery expenses (employer) Granted

“IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that plaintiff’s counsel shall pay to defendant expenses incurred in prosecuting its motion pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 37(a), in an amount to be determined by the Court.”

Caseload & timing

From public federal docket records for this judge.

The located historical matters included civil-rights, government-collection, foreclosure, product-liability, labor, prisoner, benefits, patent, and maritime disputes. The sampled records did not contain usable motion timelines.

A historical record

Judge Allen 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.