Reed Charles O'Connor

How Judge O'Connor rules, drawn from 29 signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.

Court
U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas
Position
District judge
Appointed by
George W. Bush (Republican)
Commissioned
November 21, 2007
Education
University of Houston (B.S., 1986); South Texas College of Law (J.D., 1989)
Signed orders read
29

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).

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

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.

707 FWY Investments LLC v. Ategrity Specialty Insurance Company
4:25-cv-00114-O · 2026-01-09
Summary judgment (defendant) Granted

“Defendant's Motion for Partial Summary Judgment (ECF No. 26) is GRANTED.”

Summary judgment (plaintiff) Granted in part

“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.”

Motion to exclude (defendant) Denied

“Defendant's motion to strike expert Monty Stone is DENIED.”

Deaton v. Johnson
4:23-cv-00415-O · 2024-02-12
Motions to dismiss (defendant) Granted

“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.”

Townley v. Lumpkin
4:20-cv-01349-O · 2021-06-18
Habeas petition (petitioner) Denied

“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.”

Bailey v. Anderson
4:13-cv-00663-O · 2014-09-02
Summary judgment (defendant) Granted

“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.”

Escamilla v. United States
3:17-cv-00168-O · 2018-01-22
Motions to dismiss (defendant) Granted

“For the foregoing reasons, the government's motion to dismiss is GRANTED.”

Data Marketing Partnership, LP v. United States Department of Labor
4:19-cv-00800-O · 2020-09-28
Summary judgment (plaintiff) Granted

“the Court GRANTS Plaintiffs' Motion for Summary Judgment (ECF No. 23)”

Summary judgment (defendant) Denied

“DENIES Defendants' Cross Motion for Summary Judgment (ECF No. 25)”

Preliminary injunction (plaintiff) Moot / procedural

“DENIES as moot Plaintiffs' Motion for Temporary Restraining Order and Preliminary Injunction (ECF No. 10)”

Victory v. Sneed Financial Services, LLC (Lawyers Title Company)
3:07-cv-01797-O · 2009-03-30
Motions to dismiss (defendant) Denied

“For the foregoing reasons, the Court hereby DENIES Defendant LTC's Motion to Dismiss (Doc. # 25).”

Flores v. Dretke
7:06-cv-00183-O · 2008-09-30
Summary judgment (defendant) Granted

“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.”

Spence v. American Airlines, Inc.
4:23-cv-00552-O · 2024-02-21
Motions to dismiss (defendant) Denied

“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.”

Mock v. Garland
4:23-cv-00095-O · 2024-06-13
Summary judgment (plaintiff) Granted

“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.”

Summary judgment (defendant) Denied

“DENIES Defendants' Cross Motion for Summary Judgment”

Motion for permanent injunction (plaintiff) Moot / procedural

“Because courts presume that the federal government will comply with its rulings, Plaintiffs' requested injunctive relief is unnecessary and, thus, is DENIED.”

Braidwood Management Inc. v. Becerra
4:20-cv-00283-O · 2022-09-07
Summary judgment (plaintiff) Granted in part

“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.”

Summary judgment (defendant) Granted in part

“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).”

Braidwood Management Inc. v. Becerra
4:20-cv-00283-O · 2023-03-30
Summary judgment (plaintiff) Granted in part

“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.”

Summary judgment (defendant) Granted in part

“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 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 202500
Mar 202500
Sep 202400
Mar 202400
Sep 202300
Mar 202300
Sep 202200
Mar 202200
Sep 202100
Mar 202100
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 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.

CasesMedian time
All civil cases closed4,1035.9 months
Closed with no court action8294 months
Closed before pretrial3,2286.3 months
Closed during or after pretrial1116.1 months
Closed during trial3519.3 months
12 months endingCases closedMedian time
Sep 20254,1035.9 months
Sep 20243,6485.6 months
Sep 20233,8086.5 months
Sep 20228,69856 months
Sep 20216,09419.4 months
Sep 20206,29413.3 months
Sep 20193,3676.9 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).

Draft for Judge O'Connor with the record in hand

Ezel grounds your drafting and research in this profile: what has persuaded Judge O'Connor, and what has not, cited to the signed orders.

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