John Garrett Penn
Judge Penn no longer hears cases. This profile is preserved as a historical record of how they ruled.
How Judge Penn decides
Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
What persuades
He treated informal notice and the proposed defendant’s lack of claimed prejudice as sufficient for relation back.
“Under these circumstances, the Court finds the notice to be satisfactory under Rule 15(c).”
He favored a readily administered rule tying scholarship-program breach to formal dismissal from school.
“Administrability necessitates a default rule that dismissal be used as the indicia of when a breach occurs, even if the government could potentially take action in extreme circumstances.”
Cautions
He rejected a request for immediate final judgment where the remaining counterclaims were closely intertwined with the adjudicated claim.
“The Court concludes that because the claims are so directly interrelated, final judgment should not be entered.”
He required a viable underlying claim before allowing a legal-malpractice action to proceed.
“Since plaintiff cannot demonstrate that the underlying cause of action was a good one, dismissal is appropriate.”
Signed rulings
A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.
“As a result the Court must deny the defendant’s motion to dismiss, or in the alternative for summary judgment.”
“Robins’ motion to dismiss is denied.”
“After giving careful consideration to the above authorities this Court concludes that Searle’s motion to dismiss should be denied and the case, including the claims against Searle, transferred to the Eastern District of Missouri.”
“After giving careful consideration to all of the above factors, the Court concludes that the motion to dismiss filed by Robins should be denied, the motion to dismiss filed by Searle should be denied, and the motion to transfer pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1404(a) should be granted, and the case transferred to the Eastern District of Missouri, Eastern Division.”
“In light of the above considerations, the motions to dismiss are granted.”
“The motion filed by USMS is granted and an appropriate order has been entered.”
“Accordingly, this case will be dismissed for lack of subject matter jurisdiction.”
“In view of the foregoing, the Court concludes that the defendant is not entitled to the relief requested as a matter of law and therefore the defendant’s motion to dismiss will be granted.”
“In view of the above the plaintiff's motion for partial summary judgment is granted and the defendant’s motion for partial summary judgment is denied.”
“Accordingly, for the reason set forth above, the Court must dismiss plaintiff’s complaint for failure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted.”
“Because plaintiff failed to amend in a timely fashion, the motion is denied.”
“ORDERED that the National Geographic’s motion for summary judgment on count IV is granted, it is further”
“ORDERED that the National Geographic’s motion for entry of final judgment pursuant to Rule 54 is denied, it is further”
“ORDERED that the National Geographic’s motion for deposit of funds into the Court Registry is denied.”
“It is hereby ORDERED that the motion for leave to file a second amended complaint is denied.”
“ORDERED that defendants’ motion to dismiss and/or for summary judgment is granted in part and denied in part; and it is further”
“In view of the foregoing, it is hereby ORDERED that defendant Citizens’ motion for summary judgment is denied.”
A historical record
Judge Penn no longer hears cases. This profile stays available as a record of how they ruled. If you're preparing for a matter, start from the court's current bench.