David Alan Bragdon
How Judge Bragdon decides
Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
What persuades
Distinguishes habeas petitions from civil-rights suits by asking whether the claim attacks the fact or duration of confinement rather than the conditions of confinement.
“Claims that challenge the fact or duration of confinement are brought under 28 U.S.C. § 2254, whereas claims related to the conditions of confinement should be pursued under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 or in a Bivens action.”
Procedural preferences
Requires objections to address the magistrate judge's identified defect; a lengthy filing that ranges across unrelated legal theories does not trigger meaningful review of an unchallenged recommendation.
“In his 48-page filing, Connell raises a number of issues, ranging from Old English common law to Roman and Dutch law, but never addresses the assertion that he failed to state a claim.”
Signed rulings
A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.
The court adopted an unopposed screening recommendation and dismissed the action with prejudice after concluding the recommendation contained no clear error. The order states: "this action is dismissed with prejudice."
The court adopted a recommendation and dismissed the action with prejudice because the plaintiff's lengthy objection never addressed the identified pleading defect. The order states that the objection "never addresses the assertion that he failed to state a claim."
The court adopted an unopposed screening recommendation and dismissed the action without prejudice. The order states: "this action is dismissed without prejudice."
The court adopted an unopposed recommendation to dismiss a frivolous action for lack of subject-matter jurisdiction. The order states: "this action is DISMISSED WITHOUT PREJUDICE."
“this action is dismissed without prejudice”
Based on a joint status report, the court continued a stay during a Federal Circuit appeal and directed another report after the appellate process. The order states that the stay shall "remain in place."
“the action is DISMISSED WITHOUT PREJUDICE”
Caseload & timing
From public federal docket records for this judge.
Median case duration in the sampled dockets: 106 days (N = 2).
Median motion-to-ruling time: 10 days (N = 17).
The early docket combines newly filed cases with matters inherited from predecessor judges. Employment, civil-rights, intellectual-property, commercial, prisoner, and criminal matters all appear in the current assignment set.
Put Judge Bragdon's record to work
Ezel drafts and answers grounded in this exact profile: how Judge Bragdon actually rules, not a generic AI guess.
Opens in Ezel Pro. Every answer is grounded in Judge Bragdon's own signed orders and cites them.