Benjamin H. Settle

U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington (Tacoma) Appointed by George W. Bush (Republican) 6 signed orders read

How Judge Settle decides

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

What persuades

On a Rule 12(b)(6) motion, he ordinarily decides on the briefs and requires both a viable legal theory and enough factual detail to make the claim plausible. When a self-represented litigant may be able to cure the defect, he has allowed amendment instead of immediately ending the case.

“hereby grants the motion and grants leave to amend for the reasons stated herein.”

Procedural preferences

Standard Settle order opener: rules on the papers without oral argument ('The Court has considered the pleadings filed in support of and in opposition to the motion and the remainder of the file').

“The Court has considered the pleadings filed in support of and in opposition to the motion and the remainder of the file and hereby grants the motion for the reasons stated herein.”

Signed rulings

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

Frank's Landing Indian Community v. National Indian Gaming Commission
· 2016-08-15
Motions to dismiss (defendant) Granted

“ORDER GRANTING DEFENDANTS' MOTION TO DISMISS ... hereby grants the motion for the reasons stated herein.”

Bini v. City of Vancouver
· 2016-10-28
Motions to dismiss (defendant) Granted in part

“ORDER GRANTING IN PART AND DENYING IN PART DEFENDANTS' MOTION TO DISMISS ... hereby grants the motion in part and denies it in part for the reasons stated herein.”

Engley Diversified, Inc. v. City of Port Orchard
· 2016-04-01
Summary judgment (plaintiff) Denied

“ORDER DENYING PETITIONER/PLAINTIFF'S MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT AND GRANTING IN PART AND DENYING IN PART DEFENDANT'S MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT”

Summary judgment (defendant) Granted in part

“DENYING PETITIONER/PLAINTIFF'S MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT AND GRANTING IN PART AND DENYING IN PART DEFENDANT'S MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT”

Clift v. United States Internal Revenue Service
· 2016-10-14
Motions to dismiss (defendant) Granted

“ORDER GRANTING DEFENDANT'S MOTION TO DISMISS AND GRANTING LEAVE TO AMEND ... hereby grants the motion and grants leave to amend for the reasons stated herein.”

Tidewater Holdings, Inc. v. Westchester Fire Ins. Co.
· 2019-05-31
Motions to dismiss (defendant) Granted

“Defendant Westchester Fire Insurance Company's (‘Westchester’) motion to dismiss. Dkt. 12. ... hereby grants the motion for the reasons stated herein.”

Clean Crawl, Inc. v. Crawl Space Cleaning Pros, Inc.
· 2019-01-29
Summary judgment (defendant) Granted in part

“hereby denies the motion in part, grants the motion in part, and reserves ruling and requests supplemental briefing in part for the reasons stated herein.”

Put Judge Settle's record to work

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

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