Sam Ellis Haddon
How Judge Haddon rules, drawn from 11 signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
Judge Haddon no longer hears cases. This profile is preserved as a historical record of how they ruled here.
About Judge Haddon
Sam E. Haddon was a judge of the United States District Court for the District of Montana. Appointed by President George W. Bush, Judge Haddon received a commission on July 25, 2001. Judge Haddon assumed senior status on December 31, 2012 and served until death on November 26, 2025.
How Judge Haddon decides
Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
What persuades
Haddon treated probable cause supporting a facially valid warrant as a complete answer to false-arrest and false-imprisonment claims.
“Probable cause for arrest is a complete defense to claims of false arrest and false imprisonment.”
Procedural preferences
After repeated pleading opportunities, he denied further amendment when the remaining theories were speculative and another amendment would be futile.
“Futility alone can justify the denial of a motion for leave to amend.”
Cautions
He declined broad programmatic review when an agency had not yet taken a site-specific final action.
“programmatic attacks are not judicially reviewable because no site-specific action has been taken.”
Signed rulings
A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.
“The federal defendants’ motion for summary judgment (CV 13-26-BLG-SEH, Doc. 32; CV 14-16-BLG-SEH, Doe. 6.) is GRANTED.”
“Montana’s Rule 54(b) motion is DENIED.”
“Plaintiffs Motion for Preliminary Injunction 51 is DENIED.”
“Defendant’s Motion for Summary Judgment 2 is DENIED.”
“Plaintiffs’ motion for Summary Judgment 3 is GRANTED.”
“Plaintiffs Motion for Class Certification2 is DENIED.”
“Defendants’ Motion for Summary Judgment 9 is GRANTED in part and DENIED in part as follows:”
“Defendants’ Motions to Dismiss34 are GRANTED.”
Following a segmented bench trial and settlements, Haddon dismissed Montana’s remaining Upland Areas restoration-cost claims with prejudice. The published disposition did not rule on a party motion and is excluded from motion statistics.
“BLM’s Motion for Summary Judgment22 is GRANTED.”
“Missouri River Stewards’ Motion for Summary Judgment23 is GRANTED.”
“Aviation Group’s Motion for Summary Judgment24 is GRANTED.”
“Plaintiffs’ Motions for Summary Judgment25 are DENIED.”
“Defendants’ motion for summary judgment on qualified immunity grounds as to all claims is GRANTED.”
“Judge Ostby recommended that Defendants’ Motion for Summary Judgment be granted as to Plaintiffs claims for money damages against Defendants State of Montana, the Department of Public Health and Human Services, the Child and family Services Division, and Shawn Wills in her official capacity, but denied as to Shawn Wills in her individual capacity. ... I adopt in full the Findings and Recommendation of Judge Ostby.”
“Plaintiffs Motion to Vacate Findings and Recommendations of U.S. Magistrate Judge 3 is DENIED.”
“Plaintiffs Motion to Vacate Order 4 is DENIED.”
Caseload & timing
From public federal docket records for this judge.
The 20 located 2015 civil cases were all terminated. Insurance, contract, and public-law disputes were prominent in this bounded cohort.
Pending matters in the official report
Judge Haddon was last listed in the Civil Justice Reform Act report as of September 30, 2023.
| Motions pending more than six months | 0 |
| Bench trials submitted more than six months | 0 |
| Bankruptcy appeals pending more than six months | 0 |
| Social Security appeals pending more than six months | 0 |
| Civil cases pending more than three years | 0 |
| Report | Motions over six months | Cases over three years |
|---|---|---|
| Sep 2023 | 0 | 0 |
| Mar 2023 | 0 | 1 |
| Sep 2022 | 5 | 1 |
| Mar 2022 | 0 | 1 |
| Sep 2021 | 0 | 1 |
| Mar 2021 | 2 | 1 |
| Sep 2020 | 0 | 1 |
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.
A historical record
Judge Haddon no longer hears cases. This profile stays available as a record of how they ruled here. If you're preparing for a matter, start from the court's current bench.