David Barlow
How Judge Barlow rules, drawn from 34 signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
About Judge Barlow
David Bruce Barlow is a judge of the United States District Court for the District of Utah. Appointed by President Donald J. Trump, Judge Barlow received a commission on January 6, 2020.
Judge Barlow's practices and standing orders
Rules for cases before Judge Barlow, 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
Briefs on dispositive motions must cite the record precisely in both facts and argument.
“Counsel must provide pinpoint citations to the record in both the fact and argument sections of briefing on dispositive motions.”
Filing
Proposed orders must be submitted in an editable word processing format.
“All proposed orders must be submitted in a word processing editable format (preferably Microsoft Word).”
Motions
In a TRO request that allows no response time, show good cause in the written motion.
“If you seek a TRO without providing time for opposing counsel to respond, good cause must be shown in your written motion.”
Motions
In covered patent cases, seek permission before filing a claim-construction-dependent summary judgment motion ahead of the claim construction ruling.
“Absent prior permission from the court, any motions for summary judgment or partial summary judgment that potentially may be impacted by the construction of disputed patent claim terms shall be filed only after the court has issued its ruling on claim construction.”
Trial
Under Judge Barlow’s criminal trial order, email the proposed instructions, verdict form, and voir dire to chambers as a Word document.
“A copy of the proposed instructions, verdict form and voir dire questions also must be emailed to [email protected] as a Word document”
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).
How Judge Barlow decides
Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
What persuades
The judge reads a pleading for substance rather than relying only on its labeled cause of action. An inartfully drafted complaint survived where its factual allegations and repeated statutory references gave fair notice of the federal discrimination claim.
“The court is to give ‘meaning not just to the form but the substance’ of the complaint.”
A limitations defense can be resolved on a motion to dismiss when the complaint supplies undisputed dates. Once those dates show the claim expired, the plaintiff must plead a factual basis for tolling.
“The court may resolve a statute of limitations defense at the motion to dismiss stage if ‘from the complaint, “the dates on which the pertinent acts occurred are not in dispute.””
Procedural preferences
Reconsideration is not an opportunity to repackage old arguments or add points that could have been raised earlier. The clear-error standard requires a judgment to be more than debatable; it must be fundamentally wrong.
“[A] final judgment must be ‘dead wrong’ to constitute clear error.”
In Bedrock Quartz's trademark suit, Barlow declined to decide equitable and statutory damages raised only in Rock Tops's reply to a summary-judgment motion, while allowing Rock Tops to file a separate motion on those damages.
“The court declines to address the equitable and statutory damages issue in this posture. However, Rock Tops is granted leave to file a motion addressing those damages.”
In a proposed class settlement, Judge Barlow denied preliminary approval without prejudice because the submission lacked information needed to assess likely class certification.
“The court cannot find based on the information provided that it would likely be able to certify the proposed classes in the Paul/Keem Agreements.”
Cautions
Apparent authority must come from the principal's conduct, not the supposed agent's own statements or appearance of authority. Parties dealing only with the agent bear responsibility for checking the agent's power to bind the company.
“Accordingly, apparent authority cannot be premised on the manifestations of the purported agent.”
Signed rulings
A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.
“Defendants' motion to dismiss is hereby GRANTED. ... The claims brought against Defendants after that time are therefore time barred ... and the claims asserted against them do not relate back to the earlier complaints.”
“Accordingly, Defendant's motion to dismiss is DENIED. ... Because the Original Complaint was timely and substantively alleged discrimination under Title VII and because the Amended Complaint relates back to the original complaint, the claims therein are still timely.”
“Defendant's Motion for Summary Judgment is GRANTED. ... the requested accommodation would grant the disabled residents of Square One's facility a group housing opportunity not available to anyone else in that particular zone.”
“Consequently, Plaintiffs' Motion for Partial Summary Judgment as to their third cause of action is DENIED. ... Because the requested accommodation was not 'necessary' under the FHA, the Court GRANTS Defendant's Motion for Summary Judgment.”
“Accordingly, Plaintiffs' motions are DENIED. ... Plaintiffs have failed to show that the court's consideration of Alexander constituted clear error ... a final judgment must be 'dead wrong' to constitute clear error.”
“GRANTING IN PART AND DENYING IN PART [149] [150] [152] [156] DEFENDANTS' MOTIONS TO DISMISS ... the following claims are dismissed without prejudice: [Rule 10b-5, Securities Act Sec. 12(a)(1)/Sec. 15, Exchange Act Sec. 20 control-person, conversion, RICO, conspiracy, FDUTPA, unjust enrichment] ... Plaintiffs may seek leave to amend their complaint within sixty days of the date of this decision and order.”
“Because the Court finds that a genuine dispute of material fact exists in this case as to the authority of Chris Bowden to bind Risun Construction to the GIA, Plaintiff's Motion for Summary Judgment is DENIED.”
“For the foregoing reasons, Home Depot's motion for summary judgment is GRANTED. ... in light of Plaintiffs' concessions of fact and law, the court agrees that, as a matter of law, Home Depot did not owe Brian a duty of care.”
“Accordingly, the court GRANTS in part and DENIES in part Rock Tops' Motion for Judgment on the Pleadings. The court dismisses without prejudice Bedrock's claim under the Utah Unfair Competition Act under Rule 12(b)(6). The remainder of Rock Tops' Motion is denied.”
“For the forgoing reasons, the court DENIES Defendant's motion for summary judgment. ... several of the most important [King of the Mountain] factors on this record weigh in favor of Bedrock ... likelihood of confusion is left for the jury.”
“Rock Tops' Motion for Partial Summary Judgment is GRANTED as to actual damages. It is otherwise DENIED. Rock Tops is granted leave to file a motion addressing Bedrock's equitable and statutory damages.”
“the court ADOPTS the Report and Recommendation WITHOUT MODIFICATION. Accordingly, Defendant's Motion to Join Thomas Olson as a Counterclaim Defendant is DENIED.”
“Olson's motion requesting that his counterclaims against Ol Private be dismissed under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 41(a)(2) is GRANTED ... because the court does not have jurisdiction over Olson's counterclaims, all other considerations related to voluntary dismissal under Rule 41 are irrelevant, and the counterclaims must be dismissed.”
Caseload & timing
From public federal docket records for this judge.
Median case duration in the sampled dockets: 272 days (N = 8).
Median motion-to-ruling time: 298 days (N = 13).
- Judge Barlow's sampled civil and criminal docket includes insurance coverage, securities and commodities matters, ERISA mental-health-parity claims, consumer-credit cases, RICO, personal injury, habeas petitions, prisoner civil-rights suits, employment discrimination, fair-housing claims, and criminal cases referred to magistrate judges.
- Recent assignments also include a substantial number of immigration actions.
- This describes caseload composition, not motion outcomes.
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 | 1 |
| 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 | 9 |
| Report | Motions over six months | Cases over three years |
|---|---|---|
| Mar 2026 | 1 | 9 |
| Sep 2025 | 0 | 16 |
| Mar 2025 | 6 | 17 |
| Sep 2024 | 9 | 26 |
| Mar 2024 | 12 | 23 |
| Sep 2023 | 4 | 17 |
| Mar 2023 | 10 | 14 |
| Sep 2022 | 10 | 13 |
| Mar 2022 | 4 | 12 |
| Sep 2021 | 3 | 11 |
| Mar 2021 | 5 | 8 |
| Sep 2020 | 8 | 4 |
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 United States District Court for the District of Utah, not for Judge Barlow: 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 | 1,120 | 8.5 months |
| Closed with no court action | 343 | 7 months |
| Closed before pretrial | 764 | 9 months |
| Closed during or after pretrial | 3 | not reported |
| Closed during trial | 10 | 59 months |
| 12 months ending | Cases closed | Median time |
|---|---|---|
| Sep 2025 | 1,120 | 8.5 months |
| Sep 2024 | 1,141 | 9.3 months |
| Sep 2023 | 1,035 | 10.6 months |
| Sep 2022 | 1,092 | 12.3 months |
| Sep 2021 | 1,128 | 12.7 months |
| Sep 2020 | 951 | 10.4 months |
| Sep 2019 | 1,085 | 9.7 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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