Kenneth D. Bell
How Judge Bell decides
Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
What persuades
In the Gardasil multidistrict litigation, Bell granted summary judgment on implied-preemption grounds because the limited case reports did not constitute newly acquired information showing a causal association that would permit a unilateral warning change.
“Defendants' Motion for Summary Judgment Based on Implied Preemption (Doc. No. 188) is GRANTED; and ... This Order shall be applied to Plaintiffs in the MDL other than the Bellwether Plaintiffs in accordance with the prior orders of the Court”
Procedural preferences
In Moseley v. Latino Community Credit Union, Bell converted a dismissal motion into a summary-judgment motion to consider the signed application and account agreement, then denied further amendment as futile.
“the Court will grant Latino's Motion to Dismiss, which has been converted into a Motion for Summary Judgment and deny Moseley's Motion for Summary Judgment.”
Cautions
In the NASCAR antitrust case, Bell denied renewed preliminary-injunction relief on irreparable-harm grounds and declined to address likelihood of success so as not to prejudice the jury pool.
“Plaintiff's Motion for a Preliminary Injunction (Doc. No. 175) is DENIED.”
Signed rulings
A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.
“Defendants' Motion for Summary Judgment Based on Implied Preemption (Doc. No. 188) is GRANTED; and ... This Order shall be applied to Plaintiffs in the MDL other than the Bellwether Plaintiffs in accordance with the prior orders of the Court”
“the Court will grant Latino's Motion to Dismiss, which has been converted into a Motion for Summary Judgment and deny Moseley's Motion for Summary Judgment.”
“deny Moseley's Motion for Summary Judgment.”
“Because Moseley, for the reasons set forth above, would be entitled to no relief under any set of facts that could be alleged in support of her claims, the Court concludes that granting leave to amend would be futile.”
“Plaintiff's Motion for a Preliminary Injunction (Doc. No. 175) is DENIED.”
“Counterclaim Defendants' Motion for Summary Judgment on NASCAR's Counterclaim (Doc. No. 215) is GRANTED; ... Summary Judgment in favor of the Counterclaim Defendants is entered on NASCAR's Counterclaim”
“Motion for Relief from Default Judgment (Doc. No. 11) is GRANTED”
On initial screening under 28 U.S.C. 1915A of a detainee's Section 1983 complaint alleging denial of medication-assisted treatment for opioid use disorder, the order dismisses the ADA and remaining constitutional claims but allows an official-capacity Fourteenth Amendment due process claim to pass review; grounding: "all claims asserted in this matter are hereby DISMISSED for failure to state a claim."
Caseload & timing
From public federal docket records for this judge.
Median case duration in the sampled dockets: 300.5 days (N = 10).
Median motion-to-ruling time: 48.5 days (N = 4).
The sampled civil caseload includes employment and civil-rights actions, Social Security appeals, insurance and contract disputes, consumer-credit claims, and a civil-rights case that proceeded to a jury. Referral magistrates in the reviewed matters include David C. Keesler, David S. Cayer, W. Carleton Metcalf, Susan C. Rodriguez, and, on older matters, Carl Horn III.
Put Judge Bell's record to work
Ezel drafts and answers grounded in this exact profile: how Judge Bell actually rules, not a generic AI guess.
Opens in Ezel Pro. Every answer is grounded in Judge Bell's own signed orders and cites them.