Terry L. Wooten

United States District Court for the District of South Carolina district Appointed by George W. Bush (Republican) 4 signed orders read

How Judge Wooten decides

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

What persuades

Denies summary judgment in securities-fraud actions where forward-looking statements were paired with undisclosed adverse facts and the plaintiff's loss-causation expert offers an admissible event study, letting the case reach a jury; also declines to exclude the competing experts at that stage.

“For the reasons set forth herein, Defendants' motion for summary judgment is DENIED. (Doc. # 108).”

Procedural preferences

In First Amendment challenges to adult-business zoning and licensing, applies the secondary-effects framework, defers heavily to a city's legislative record, and upholds ordinances as content-neutral time/place/manner regulations.

“Before the Court are the City's Motion for Summary Judgment, ECF No. 25, and Taboo's Motion for Summary Judgment, ECF No. 38. The Court grants the City's motion and denies Taboo's motion.”

Cautions

Construes insurance coverage exclusions strictly against the insurer and reads policy terms like 'incident that could result in a claim' narrowly, refusing to rescind claims-made policies where no disclosable matter existed on the application.

“Thus, after careful consideration, for the reasons stated herein, IT IS ORDERED that the Plaintiffs Motion for Summary Judgment (Doc. # 22) is hereby DENIED.”

Signed rulings

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

City of Ann Arbor Employees' Retirement System v. Sonoco Products Co.
· 2011-10-19
Summary judgment (defendant) Denied

“For the reasons set forth herein, Defendants' motion for summary judgment is DENIED. (Doc. # 108).”

Daubert (defendant) Denied

“Defendants' motion to exclude the opinions and testimony of John D. Finnerty, Ph.D. is DENIED. (Doc. # 105).”

Daubert (plaintiff) Denied

“Plaintiffs motions to exclude the testimony of John P. Freeman and the testimony of Christopher F. Noe, Ph.D., as set forth, are DENIED. (Docs. # 109 and 110).”

Daubert (plaintiff) Denied
Darwin National Assurance Co. v. Matthews & Megna LLC
· 2014-07-29
Summary judgment (plaintiff) Denied

“Thus, after careful consideration, for the reasons stated herein, IT IS ORDERED that the Plaintiffs Motion for Summary Judgment (Doc. # 22) is hereby DENIED.”

Cricket Store 17, LLC v. City of Columbia
· 2015-03-31
Summary judgment (defendant) Granted

“Before the Court are the City's Motion for Summary Judgment, ECF No. 25, and Taboo's Motion for Summary Judgment, ECF No. 38. The Court grants the City's motion and denies Taboo's motion.”

Summary judgment (plaintiff) Denied
Cade v. United States
· 2017-08-23
Habeas 2255 (petitioner) Granted

“This matter comes before the Court for consideration of the pro se petition to vacate, set aside, or correct a sentence pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2255 filed by Petitioner Johnny Cade. For the reasons stated below, the Court grants the petition.”

Put Judge Wooten's record to work

Ezel drafts and answers grounded in this exact profile: how Judge Wooten actually rules, not a generic AI guess.

Opens in Ezel Pro. Every answer is grounded in Judge Wooten's own signed orders and cites them.