Robert John Colville
How Judge Colville decides
Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
What persuades
On premises-liability summary judgment he distinguishes durable defects from transitory ones: a plaintiff need not prove how long a defect existed when it is 'of the type with an inherently sustained duration' (e.g. a loose wire) and a witness saw it around the accident -- constructive notice then goes to the jury.
“the loose wire is of the type with an inherently sustained duration, as opposed to a transitory spill which could have occurred an instant before the action. Therefore, the nature of the condition requires that a jury decide whether Defendants had constructive notice and summary judgment is not appropriate.”
He applies the Pennsylvania 'Sterner' majority rule: once an employer admits respondeat-superior agency and no punitive-damages claim is pled, direct corporate-negligence claims (negligent hiring/training/supervision) are dismissed as unnecessary and prejudicial -- and he will do so on a 12(b)(6) motion, not only at summary judgment.
“once the employer/supervisor defendants admitted an agency relationship and no claims for punitive damages remained in the action ... the plaintiffs in those cases could no longer proceed with the direct negligence claims against the employer/supervisor defendants.”
Procedural preferences
He routes civil cases into ADR early (a standing Rule 12(b) order, prompt Rule 16.1 scheduling, and referral to Early Neutral Evaluation/mediation); many of his civil dockets resolve at ENE/ADR with an administrative case-closing rather than on dispositive motions.
“Defendants are permitted to re-raise the issue in a motion for summary judgment.”
Cautions
He dismisses with prejudice when amendment would be futile -- e.g. a claim seeking a category of relief (an injunction to retract a publication) that is legally unavailable cannot be cured by repleading.
“Because amendment of Count I would be futile, the Court will dismiss Count I with prejudice.”
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.
| Motions to dismiss N = 3 |
Granted: 2Denied: 1 | counts only |
| Summary judgment N = 1 |
Denied: 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.
“For the reasons stated herein, the Motion to Dismiss will be denied.”
“this Court will grant Defendants' Partial Motion to Dismiss, and dismiss Count I of Plaintiffs' First Amended Complaint. Because amendment of Count I would be futile, the Court will dismiss Count I with prejudice.”
“For the reasons discussed above, the Court will deny Defendants' Motion for Summary Judgment.”
“the Court will grant the motion and Count II will be dismissed.”
Caseload & timing
From public federal docket records for this judge.
Enumerated via assigned_judge='Robert J. Colville', cases filed 2021-2022. NOS mix: False Claims Act qui tam (Borghetti), trademark (Nifty Home Products v. Kafa), ADA/Title VII employment (Wright v. Sierra Club, Good, Anderson, Houston v. ATI), Wellpath prisoner-medical (Walter, ref. MJ Patricia Dodge), and criminal. Most sampled civil dockets terminate at Early Neutral Evaluation/ADR/mediation (durations groundable; dispositive-motion latency sparse). Not tallied to a fixed N.