Douglas Russell Cole
How Judge Cole decides
Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
What persuades
Reads contracts/releases on their plain text and lets a plausible claim proceed even if the movant offers a narrower reading.
“Given the apparent breadth of the relevant language, TK has at least a plausible argument that the Settlement Agreement covers the claim here.”
Procedural preferences
Will grant a Rule 12(c) motion on an affirmative defense (e.g., PLRA exhaustion) when the undisputed facts conclusively establish it on the pleadings.
“There is no reason not to grant a motion to dismiss where the undisputed facts conclusively establish an affirmative defense as a matter of law.”
Dismisses a declaratory-judgment claim as duplicative when a parallel breach-of-contract claim will resolve the same issues.
“Its declaratory judgment claim is duplicative of its breach of contract claim because the Court's adjudication of its breach of contract claim necessarily will answer the questions on which it seeks declaratory relief.”
Cautions
Even on a first dismissal, will dismiss WITH prejudice (denying amendment) where the plaintiff never moved for leave to amend or showed amendment could cure.
“the Court instead elects to dismiss them with prejudice. Wiltz did not move for leave to amend her Complaint or in any way suggest in her Response that she could resolve the problems McCoy highlighted”
Motion outcomes
Counted from classified signed orders only. Percentages are shown only where the sample is large enough to be meaningful; smaller samples are reported as raw counts.
| Motion for judgment on pleadings N = 2 |
Granted: 1Denied: 1 | counts only |
| Motions to dismiss N = 1 |
Granted: 1 | counts only |
| Motion for voluntary dismissal N = 1 |
Moot / procedural: 1 | counts only |
| Motion for appointment of counsel N = 1 |
Moot / procedural: 1 | counts only |
A "1 of 1" is one ruling, not a tendency. Treat small samples as illustrative, not predictive.
Signed rulings
A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.
“the Court DENIES Menard's Motion for Judgment on the Pleadings (Doc. 30).”
“the Court GRANTS the Motion for Judgment on the Pleadings, or in the Alternative, First Motion for Summary Judgment (Doc. 17) and DISMISSES this action WITHOUT PREJUDICE for failure to exhaust administrative procedures.”
“DENIES AS MOOT Hamilton's Motion to Appoint Counsel (Doc. 20)”
“the Court ADOPTS the R&R (Doc. 14), GRANTS Lucas's Motion to Dismiss (Doc. 13), and DISMISSES her Complaint (Doc. 4) WITHOUT PREJUDICE.”
“the Court GRANTS McCoy's Motion to Dismiss (Doc. 127) ... DISMISSES Wiltz's federal claims against McCoy WITH PREJUDICE ... DISMISSES those [state-law] claims WITHOUT PREJUDICE.”
Caseload & timing
From public federal docket records for this judge.
Early-tenure dockets terminated 2020-2021. Civil-rights/employment-dominant general civil docket with a product-liability and diversity-contract component.