Adrienne C. Nelson
How Judge Nelson decides
Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
What persuades
In insurance duty-to-defend disputes she finds no covered 'occurrence' where the only reasonable inference from the underlying complaint is intentional conduct, and applies the willful-and-malicious-acts exclusion to relieve the insurer of any duty to defend.
“the Court declines to adopt the F&R, ECF [29]. State Farm's Motion for Partial Summary Judgment, ECF [18], is GRANTED.”
Procedural preferences
Conducts genuine de novo review of a magistrate judge's Findings & Recommendation on the parties' objections and will decline to adopt the F&R where her own reading of the record differs.
“the Court declines to adopt the F&R, ECF [29]. State Farm's Motion for Partial Summary Judgment, ECF [18], is GRANTED.”
Cautions
On Eighth Amendment deliberate-indifference summary judgment she grants in part and denies in part, dismissing claims against staff not shown to be deliberately indifferent while letting adequately-supported claims proceed to trial.
“defendant's Motion for Summary Judgment, ECF [131], is GRANTED in part and DENIED in part. Plaintiff's claims against defendants Roberts and Bugher are dismissed. Plaintiff's claims against defendants Crites and Irving continue as described in this opinion.”
Signed rulings
A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.
“the Court declines to adopt the F&R, ECF [29]. State Farm's Motion for Partial Summary Judgment, ECF [18], is GRANTED.”
“Defendants' Motion for Partial Summary Judgment, ECF [16], is DENIED.”
“defendant's Motion for Summary Judgment, ECF [131], is GRANTED in part and DENIED in part. Plaintiff's claims against defendants Roberts and Bugher are dismissed. Plaintiff's claims against defendants Crites and Irving continue as described in this opinion.”
“Motion for Stay of Plaintiff's Declaratory Claim With Regard to the Wolf Lawsuit, ECF [49], and Motion for Stay of Plaintiff's Declaratory Claim on Indemnity Coverage With Regard to the Nelson Lawsuit, ECF [51], are GRANTED.”
“Plaintiff Artisan and Truckers Casualty Company's Motion for Summary Judgment, ECF [46], is DENIED with regard to the duty to defend in the Nelson Lawsuit.”
“Defendants Matthew Cady, Jeffrey James, and TJ Lathrom's Motion for Partial Summary Judgment, ECF [62], is GRANTED with regard to the duty to defend in the Nelson Lawsuit and DENIED with regard to attorney fees.”
“For the reasons stated herein, Savants' motion to dismiss, ECF 8, is DENIED.”
Caseload & timing
From public federal docket records for this judge.
The 2023-2024 case sample includes False Claims Act, consumer-credit, wage-and-hour, prisoner mandamus, public-records and immigration, insurance, employment, and criminal matters. Because Nelson joined the court in February 2023, many sampled cases remain pending; the completed matters in this slice generally ended quickly. Reported durations measure the life of the case, not the time taken to decide a motion.
Put Judge Nelson's record to work
Ezel drafts and answers grounded in this exact profile: how Judge Nelson actually rules, not a generic AI guess.
Opens in Ezel Pro. Every answer is grounded in Judge Nelson's own signed orders and cites them.