David Bryan Sentelle

How Judge Sentelle rules, drawn from 16 signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.

Court
United States District Court for the Western District of North Carolina
Position
district
Appointed by
Ronald Reagan (Republican)
Commissioned
1985-10-17
Education
University of North Carolina, B.A. (1965); University of North Carolina School of Law, J.D. (1968)
Signed orders read
16

How Judge Sentelle decides

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

What persuades

In Gardner, Sentelle treated the state supreme court’s construction of an earlier repose statute as the best guide and declined to extend a product-liability repose period to asbestos disease without explicit legislative language.

“the State Supreme Court does not consider disease to be included within a statute of repose directed at personal injury claims unless the Legislature expressly expands the language to include it.”

Procedural preferences

In McDowell, Sentelle awarded fees to prevailing civil-rights defendants after finding the suit groundless, but cut the calculated award in half to balance deterrence against access to court.

“the Court further reduces the fee award to defendants by one-half and awards to defendants as reasonable attorneys’ fees the sum of $4,301.50”

Signed rulings

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

Champion International Corp. v. United States Environmental Protection Agency
· 1987-02-03
Motion to withdraw mandate (Champion International Corporation) Denied

“IT IS ORDERED, ADJUDGED AND DECREED that plaintiff’s motion for withdrawal of mandate is hereby DENIED.”

Clary v. Bowen
· 1986-07-09
Social security appeal (claimant) Denied

“The Secretary’s decision is AFFIRMED.”

United States v. Canane
· 1985-11-27
Government appeal from magistrate (United States) Denied

“the decision of the magistrate dismissing this prosecution is affirmed.”

Ehlenbeck v. Patton (In re Patton)
· 1986-03-04
Bankruptcy appeal (debtor-appellant) Denied

“The decision of the Bankruptcy Court is AFFIRMED.”

Griffin v. Tenneco Resins, Inc.
· 1986-12-01
Motions to dismiss (defendants) Granted

“defendants’ motions for dismissal are allowed by Order filed contemporaneously herewith.”

McDowell v. Moore
· 1986-05-15
Motion for attorney fees (defendants) Granted in part

“the Court further reduces the fee award to defendants by one-half and awards to defendants as reasonable attorneys’ fees the sum of $4,301.50”

Gardner v. Asbestos Corp., Ltd.
· 1986-03-04
Summary judgment (Cassiar Mining Corporation) Denied

“defendant’s Motion for Partial Summary Judgment is denied.”

Livingston v. International Association of Bridge, Structural & Ornamental Iron Workers
· 1986-10-31
Preliminary injunction (plaintiffs) Granted

“The court will issue, and by Order filed contemporaneously with this memorandum has issued, the preliminary relief prayed by the plaintiffs.”

Ratcliff v. Buncombe County, North Carolina
· 1987-07-02
Summary judgment (defendant) Denied

“Defendant’s motion for summary judgment is DENIED.”

Summary judgment (plaintiffs) Granted

“Plaintiffs’ motion for summary judgment is ALLOWED.”

Younce v. United States
· 1987-06-01
Defense judgment after bench trial (United States) Granted

“Plaintiff take nothing by reason of this lawsuit”

Haley v. United States
· 1987-02-20
Defense judgment after bench trial (United States) Granted

“the Court will enter a judgment contemporaneously herewith that plaintiffs take nothing by reason of this action.”

Champion International Corp. v. United States Environmental Protection Agency
· 1986-12-01
Summary judgment (United States Environmental Protection Agency) Granted

“Based on the foregoing, the EPA is entitled to summary judgment”

Caseload & timing

From public federal docket records for this judge.

No assigned docket records were returned under three plausible Sentelle name variants.

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