Shon T. Erwin

How Judge Erwin rules, drawn from 18 signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.

Court
United States District Court for the Western District of Oklahoma
Position
Magistrate judge
Commissioned
June 1, 1995
Education
B.A., Oral Roberts University, 1983 (magna cum laude, English and History double major); J.D., University of Oklahoma College of Law, 1986
Signed orders read
18

About Judge Erwin

Shon T. Erwin serves as a United States magistrate judge for the Western District of Oklahoma. He has chambers in Lawton and Oklahoma City.

Judge Erwin's practices and standing orders

The court's website lists no individual practices or standing orders of Judge Erwin's own (checked October 9, 2026), so the court's local rules and general orders are the place to look (court page ↗).

Standing orders for every case in this court

Orders the court applies to all of its cases, whichever judge has them, as published on the court's website (checked October 9, 2026).

Key rules from these orders · The court's local rules ↗

How Judge Erwin decides

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

What persuades

In Ishman v. Ballard, Erwin recommended treating a dismissal motion as one for summary judgment and granting it because the prisoner did not complete the required grievance process. The district judge adopted the recommendation.

“Judge Erwin has recommended that the Case 5:18-cv-00893-G Document 72 Filed 03/23/21 Page 2 of 4 Court convert Defendant Braggs’ Motion into one for summary judgment and grant it based on Plaintiff’s failure to exhaust administrative remedies.”

Procedural preferences

In Arnett v. Gabriel, he recommended denying dismissal for defective service, quashing the attempted service, and giving the plaintiff 30 days to serve the defendants properly.

“Based on the foregoing, the Court should: (1) deny the Motions to Dismiss to the extent they seek dismissal of the action due to untimely and improper service; (2) quash the original service attempt on Defendants Gabriel, Hamilton, Hagen, Peek, and Amason in their individual capacities; and (3) allow Mr. Arnett 30 days to effectuate proper service on these Defendants in their individual capacities or risk dismissal of the claims against them.”

Cautions

In Plater v. Topping, Erwin recommended that the claim against Case Manager Rowley survive a combined dismissal and summary judgment motion. The district judge adopted that recommendation.

“The Court therefore ADOPTS Judge Erwin’s recommendation that the motion to dismiss/motion for summary judgment be denied with respect to the claim asserted against Defendant Rowley.”

Signed rulings

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

Plater v. Topping
5:22-cv-00780-R · 2023-12-18
Motions to dismiss (defendant) Granted

“the claims asserted against GEO Group are dismissed without prejudice for failure to state a claim, (2) the claim against Defendant Topping is dismissed without prejudice for failure to state a claim”

Summary judgment (defendant) Granted in part

“(3) summary judgment is granted in favor of Defendant Garrett, and (4) dismissal and summary judgment are denied with respect to the claim asserted against Defendant Rowley in her individual capacity.”

Ishman v. Ballard
5:18-cv-00893-G · 2021-03-23
Summary judgment (defendant) Granted

“Defendant Braggs' Motion (Doc. No. 61), considered as a Motion for Summary Judgment, is GRANTED in its entirety.”

Williams v. Gray
5:19-cv-00820-HE · 2020-10-20
Summary judgment (defendant) Granted in part

“the Report [Doc. #37] is ADOPTED as to plaintiff's claims against defendants Gray and Fowler, and defendants' motion for summary judgment [Doc. 25] is DENIED as to them. ... the recommendation of the Report is ADOPTED as to plaintiff's claims against defendants Lindsey and Allbaugh and defendants' motion is GRANTED as to those defendants.”

Saldivar et al. v. Oklahoma Department of Corrections et al.
· 2024-10-11
Summary judgment (defendant) Granted in part

“The Court should grant Defendants’ Motion for Summary Judgment regarding non-exhaustion of administrative remedies, but only as to Plaintiff Johnson. As to the remaining Plaintiffs, the Court should deny summary judgment and conclude that administrative remedies were effectively unavailable to them.”

Kosidowski v. Love
· 2025-01-30
Motion to proceed in forma pauperis (plaintiff) Denied

“it is recommended that Petitioner’s Motion, (ECF No. 7) be DENIED and that he be ordered to prepay the full $5.00 filing fee for this action to proceed.”

Darlene P. v. Commissioner of Social Security
· 2025-07-18
Social security appeal (plaintiff) Granted

“the undersigned magistrate judge recommends that the decision of the Commissioner be REVERSED AND REMANDED.”

Jerez-Lopez v. Noem et al.
· 2026-02-09
Habeas petition (plaintiff) Granted in part

“the undersigned recommends the Court GRANT Petitioner’s habeas petition, in part, and order Respondents to bring Petitioner before an immigration judge (IJ) for a bond hearing under 8 U.S.C. § 1226(a) within seven business days or otherwise release Petitioner if he has not received a lawful bond hearing within that period.”

Loveless v. Lowe et al.
· 2024-08-01

Section 1915A screening R&R recommending dismissal of a pro se Section 1983 complaint for failure to state a claim because it did not make clear which defendant did what. Zero-motion screening disposition; quote: “The Court should DISMISS Plaintiff’s Complaint (ECF No. 1) for failure to state a claim upon which relief may be granted.” District-judge order confirms Erwin as author.

Madden v. Harpe et al.
· 2025-04-18

Section 1915A / 1915(e)(2)(B) screening R&R on a pro se Section 1983 prisoner complaint recommending dismissal of all individual-capacity claims and the official-capacity injunctive claims (some with, some without prejudice). Zero-motion screening disposition; quote: “Based on that review, it is recommended that the Court: (1) dismiss the individual capacity claims for injunctive relief, against all Defendants, with prejudice”. District-judge referral confirms Erwin as author.

Pinson v. FNU LNU et al.
· 2025-06-20

Sua sponte R&R recommending dismissal without prejudice of a pro se Section 1983 action for failure to cure filing deficiencies and comply with the court's order. Zero-motion case-management disposition; quote: “it is recommended that this action be DISMISSED without prejudice for Plaintiff’s failure to comply with this Court’s orders.” Companion district-judge order confirms the R&R was issued by Magistrate Judge Shon T. Erwin on June 20, 2025.

Glen Delane Arnett Jr. v. Major Phillip Gabriel, et al.
5:24-cv-00185-SLP · 2026-04-30
Motions to dismiss (defendants) Granted in part

“Based on the foregoing, the Court should: (1) deny the Motions to Dismiss to the extent they seek dismissal of the action due to untimely and improper service; (2) quash the original service attempt on Defendants Gabriel, Hamilton, Hagen, Peek, and Amason in their individual capacities; and (3) allow Mr. Arnett 30 days to effectuate proper service on these Defendants in their individual capacities or risk dismissal of the claims against them.”

Joshua Alan Maujer v. Warden, Federal Transfer Center Oklahoma City
5:26-cv-00340-R · 2026-04-30
Habeas petition (petitioner) Moot / procedural

“Based upon the foregoing analysis, it is recommended that the Amended Petition (ECF No. 7) be DISMISSED.”

Pending matters in the official report

Reported by the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts under the Civil Justice Reform Act, as of March 31, 2026.

Motions pending more than six months0
Bench trials submitted more than six months0
Bankruptcy appeals pending more than six months0
Social Security appeals pending more than six months0
Civil cases pending more than three years0
ReportMotions over six monthsCases over three years
Mar 202600
Sep 202501
Mar 202500
Sep 202400
Mar 202400
Sep 202300
Mar 202330
Sep 202231
Mar 202210
Sep 202100
Mar 202110
Sep 202000

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.

How long civil cases take in this court

For the whole of United States District Court for the Western District of Oklahoma, not for Judge Erwin: median time from filing to disposition of the civil cases the court closed in the 12 months ending September 30, 2025, as reported by the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts.

CasesMedian time
All civil cases closed1,0116.8 months
Closed with no court action3615 months
Closed before pretrial4616.6 months
Closed during or after pretrial18512.3 months
Closed during trial4not reported
12 months endingCases closedMedian time
Sep 20251,0116.8 months
Sep 20241,0627.3 months
Sep 20238639 months
Sep 202293210.1 months
Sep 20219589.6 months
Sep 20209448.3 months
Sep 20191,0408.5 months

The table leaves out prisoner petitions, land condemnations, deportation reviews, recovery of overpayments and enforcement of judgments, and reports no median for fewer than 10 cases. A district that closed a large multidistrict litigation in the period shows very large counts and long medians for that year. Source: Table C-5, U.S. District Courts (spreadsheet).

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