Reed Charles O'Connor
How Judge O'Connor rules, drawn from 29 signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
About Judge O'Connor
Reed Charles O'Connor is a judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas. Appointed by President George W. Bush, Judge O'Connor received a commission on November 21, 2007.
Judge O'Connor's practices and standing orders
Rules for cases before Judge O'Connor, as published on the court's website (checked October 9, 2026). Judges revise these often, so confirm the current version on the court's site before you file.
Key rules
Filing
Provide a bound judge's copy for dispositive motion papers exceeding 75 pages.
“A judge’s copy is required for each dispositive motion, response, reply, and appendix thereto exceeding seventy-five (75) pages.”
Motions
Email a proposed order in Word or WordPerfect for every motion.
“All motions require a proposed order that must be emailed to [email protected] and must be in a WordPerfect or Word format (not PDF).”
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).
- Special Order 19-2: Service, Access, and Management of Sealed Documents ↗
- Miscellaneous Order 61-1: Restrictions on Electronic Filing of Highly Sensitive Documents ↗
- Miscellaneous Order 61: Electronic Case Filing ↗
- Special Order 19-1: Second Amended Order Regarding Public Access to Certain Documents ↗
How Judge O'Connor decides
Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
What persuades
In Escamilla v. United States, O’Connor dismissed an untimely Section 2255 petition after finding that the petitioner had not shown the rare and exceptional circumstances needed for equitable tolling.
“Petitioner has not argued that he was prevented in some extraordinary way from asserting his rights. He has failed to show rare and exceptional circumstances justifying equitable tolling in this case.”
In Deaton v. Johnson, Judge O’Connor dismissed fee-sharing claims with prejudice after finding that a confirmed arbitration award precluded them under claim and issue preclusion.
“Since the Award issued in the Moreno Lawsuit satisfies all elements of res judicata and collateral estoppel, the Court holds that both doctrines preclude the assertion of Deaton's claims in this case.”
In Bailey v. Anderson, O’Connor granted summary judgment on a prisoner’s Section 1983 claim for failure to exhaust administrative remedies. He found that the jail grievance process remained available while the plaintiff was in the infirmary or hospital and that the plaintiff had not explained why he could not use it.
“The undisputed facts establish that administrative remedies were available to Plaintiff. Plaintiff offers no explanation as to why he could not pursue those remedies while in the infirmary or hospital.”
Procedural preferences
In 707 FWY Investments v. Ategrity Specialty Insurance, O’Connor denied a motion to strike the insured’s causation expert. He found that the expert did not need to be an engineer and that challenges to his experience were better tested on cross-examination.
“Because Stone is not required to be an engineer to testify as to causation, Defendant’s arguments regarding Stone’s experience are better suited for cross-examination, rather than a challenge based on qualification.”
Cautions
In 707 FWY Investments' property-insurance suit, Judge O’Connor granted summary judgment on four insurer defenses but denied the insured's motion on the bona fide dispute and mitigation issues. He found the insured had not shown the absence of a bona fide dispute and that a factual dispute remained over mitigation.
“Plaintiff’s Motion for Partial Summary Judgment (ECF No. 29) is GRANTED as to Defendant’s affirmative defenses of policy exclusions, concurrent causation, estoppel, and waiver, and DENIED as to the existence of a bona fide dispute and the condition precedent of mitigation.”
Signed rulings
A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.
“Defendant's Motion for Partial Summary Judgment (ECF No. 26) is GRANTED.”
“Plaintiff's Motion for Partial Summary Judgment (ECF No. 29) is GRANTED as to Defendant's affirmative defenses of policy exclusions, concurrent causation, estoppel, and waiver, and DENIED as to the existence of a bona fide dispute and the condition precedent of mitigation.”
“Defendant's motion to strike expert Monty Stone is DENIED.”
“Defendant Blake Norvell's Motion to Dismiss (ECF No. 67) is GRANTED and Plaintiffs John Deaton and Deaton Law Firm's claims asserted against Defendant Blake Norvell are DISMISSED with prejudice.”
“Petitioner's petition for a writ of habeas corpus pursuant to 28 U.S.C. 2254 is DENIED. Further, pursuant to 28 U.S.C. 2253(c), for the reasons discussed, a certificate of appealability is DENIED.”
“defendant Anderson's motion for summary judgment (ECF No. 15) is GRANTED and plaintiff Eimajonone E. Bailey shall take nothing on his remaining claims against defendant Dee Anderson, and such claims are DISMISSED WITH PREJUDICE.”
“For the foregoing reasons, the government's motion to dismiss is GRANTED.”
“the Court GRANTS Plaintiffs' Motion for Summary Judgment (ECF No. 23)”
“DENIES Defendants' Cross Motion for Summary Judgment (ECF No. 25)”
“DENIES as moot Plaintiffs' Motion for Temporary Restraining Order and Preliminary Injunction (ECF No. 10)”
“For the foregoing reasons, the Court hereby DENIES Defendant LTC's Motion to Dismiss (Doc. # 25).”
“it is ORDERED that Defendants' Motion for Summary Judgment is GRANTED. Plaintiff's complaint is hereby dismissed with prejudice pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1915(e)(2)(B)(i) as frivolous.”
“the Court determines that Plaintiff pleads sufficient facts at this stage to state plausible claims in Count I and Count II of his Amended Complaint. Therefore, the Court DENIES Defendants' Motion to Dismiss.”
“the Court GRANTS Plaintiffs' Motion for Summary Judgment on the grounds that the Final Rule violated the APA's procedural requirements because it was arbitrary and capricious and was not a logical outgrowth of the Proposed Rule; ... and VACATES the Final Rule.”
“DENIES Defendants' Cross Motion for Summary Judgment”
“Because courts presume that the federal government will comply with its rulings, Plaintiffs' requested injunctive relief is unnecessary and, thus, is DENIED.”
“The PrEP mandate violates Braidwood's rights under RFRA. The Court GRANTS Plaintiffs' summary judgment motion and DENIES Defendants' summary judgment motion on Claim 5 as to Braidwood.”
“HRSA and ACIP do not, on this record, violate the Appointments Clause. The Court DENIES Plaintiffs' summary judgment motion and GRANTS Defendants' summary judgment motion on Claim 1 as to 42 U.S.C. § 300gg-13(a)(2) through (a)(4).”
“the remaining Plaintiffs have shown they are entitled to declaratory and injunctive relief as to their RFRA claims and to declaratory and injunctive relief and to a universal remedy with respect to their Appointments Clause claim as it relates to PSTF.”
“the Court DISMISSES with prejudice the religious objector Plaintiffs', including Braidwood Management Inc.'s, contraceptive mandate claims. The non-religious objector Plaintiffs' contraceptive mandate claims are DISMISSED without prejudice for lack of subject matter jurisdiction.”
Caseload & timing
From public federal docket records for this judge.
Median motion-to-ruling time: 124 days (N = 1).
The caseload description is based on sampled cases rather than a complete authoritative census. Older matters listed under O'Connor's name may reflect later reassignment; cases predating his 2007 commission are not attributed to him as rulings.
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 months | 0 |
| Bench trials submitted more than six months | 0 |
| Bankruptcy appeals pending more than six months | 0 |
| Social Security appeals pending more than six months | 0 |
| Civil cases pending more than three years | 0 |
| Report | Motions over six months | Cases over three years |
|---|---|---|
| Mar 2026 | 0 | 0 |
| Sep 2025 | 0 | 0 |
| Mar 2025 | 0 | 0 |
| Sep 2024 | 0 | 0 |
| Mar 2024 | 0 | 0 |
| Sep 2023 | 0 | 0 |
| Mar 2023 | 0 | 0 |
| Sep 2022 | 0 | 0 |
| Mar 2022 | 0 | 0 |
| Sep 2021 | 0 | 0 |
| Mar 2021 | 0 | 0 |
| Sep 2020 | 0 | 0 |
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 U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas, not for Judge O'Connor: 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.
| Cases | Median time | |
|---|---|---|
| All civil cases closed | 4,103 | 5.9 months |
| Closed with no court action | 829 | 4 months |
| Closed before pretrial | 3,228 | 6.3 months |
| Closed during or after pretrial | 11 | 16.1 months |
| Closed during trial | 35 | 19.3 months |
| 12 months ending | Cases closed | Median time |
|---|---|---|
| Sep 2025 | 4,103 | 5.9 months |
| Sep 2024 | 3,648 | 5.6 months |
| Sep 2023 | 3,808 | 6.5 months |
| Sep 2022 | 8,698 | 56 months |
| Sep 2021 | 6,094 | 19.4 months |
| Sep 2020 | 6,294 | 13.3 months |
| Sep 2019 | 3,367 | 6.9 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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