J. Owen Forrester
Appointed by President Ronald Reagan in 1981 and confirmed by voice vote, J. Owen Forrester was a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia. He earned a law degree from Emory University School of Law in 1966. Rulings & record ↓ Sources ↓
- Lived
- 1939–2014
- Appointed by
- Ronald Reagan, 1981
- Confirmed
- by voice vote
- Education
- Georgia Institute of Technology 1961 · Emory Law 1966
- Succeeded
- Newell Edenfield
- Succeeded by
- William S. Duffey Jr.
Federal judicial service
| Year | Court | Appointed by | Vote |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1981 | Northern District of Georgia succeeded Newell Edenfield | Reagan (R) | Voice vote |
Party letters show the appointing president’s party, not the judge’s own. A voice vote means the chamber approved aloud. No senator-by-senator tally is recorded.
Confirmation vote
Voice vote
The Senate approved this confirmation aloud, with no senator-by-senator tally recorded. Recorded roll-call votes begin in 1989.
Education
| Georgia Institute of Technology | B.S. | 1961 |
| Emory University School of Law | LL.B. | 1966 |
Judicial Record
Caseload & case types
In our data, Forrester was assigned 6,500 district-court cases (1978–2014). Median time from filing to termination: 270 days across 6,500 closed cases.
Case assignment is from CourtListener’s PACER-derived docket records: a partial sample, not a complete caseload, reflecting the judge last assigned each case. How we count.
On appeal
Of 90 of Forrester’s decisions reviewed on the merits by the U.S. courts of appeals in our data, 82 were affirmed, 5 reversed or vacated, and 3 affirmed in part and reversed in part. This is a historical count of appellate outcomes for cases we could match, not a judgment of the judge, and not a complete record. How we count.
In our data, Forrester authored 216 published opinions for the court (1982–2011). Most cited: United States v. Davis (72 citations).
A selective record from published opinions in the CourtListener corpus, not every ruling; most unpublished district orders are not included. Counts and rankings are objective and recomputable: how we count. We describe the record, not the judge.
Recent & notable rulings
| Year | Case | Citation | Cited |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1994 | United States v. Davis | 864 F. Supp. 1303 | 72 |
| 1983 | Taylor v. Bear Stearns & Co. | 572 F. Supp. 667 | 64 |
| 1985 | Allen v. City of Marietta | 601 F. Supp. 482 | 45 |
| 2009 | Kipperman v. Onex Corp. | 411 B.R. 805 | 39 |
| 1984 | McCleskey v. Zant | 580 F. Supp. 338 | 39 |
| 1983 | McQurter v. City of Atlanta, Ga. | 572 F. Supp. 1401 | 36 |
| 2000 | Sterling Factors, Inc. v. Whelan | 245 B.R. 698 | 34 |
| 1990 | Leonard v. Stuart-James Co., Inc. | 742 F. Supp. 653 | 33 |
| 1989 | Electronic Transaction Network v. Katz | 734 F. Supp. 492 | 30 |
| 1988 | Fidelity & Deposit Co. of Maryland v. Williams | 699 F. Supp. 897 | 26 |
| 1983 | Glover v. Libman | 578 F. Supp. 748 | 25 |
| 1997 | Ritts v. Dealers Alliance Credit Corp. | 989 F. Supp. 1475 | 22 |
| 1991 | Piedmont Associates v. Cigna Property & Casualty Insurance Co. | 132 B.R. 75 | 22 |
| 1985 | Collins v. Walden | 613 F. Supp. 1306 | 22 |
| 1983 | Stevens v. Stubbs | 576 F. Supp. 1409 | 22 |
Showing the 15 most-cited of 216 authored opinions in our data. “Cited” is inbound citations across the CourtListener corpus. Case links open the ruling’s full text (CourtListener) or its page here; read the methodology and verify against the primary source.
Questions & answers
- Who appointed J. Owen Forrester?
- President Ronald Reagan appointed J. Owen Forrester to the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia in 1981.
- Was J. Owen Forrester appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?
- J. Owen Forrester was appointed by President Ronald Reagan, a Republican. JudicialFinder records the appointing president's party, not a judge's own politics.
- What was J. Owen Forrester's confirmation vote?
- J. Owen Forrester was confirmed by voice vote on December 9, 1981. No senator-by-senator tally was recorded.
- Which court was J. Owen Forrester on?
- J. Owen Forrester was a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia.
Sources
Each fact on this page traces to a primary public record.
- FJC Biographical Directory
- Wikidata
- CourtListener bulk data (Free Law Project): authored opinions & citation counts
How we source & reconcile data → Data & Sources
See something wrong? Report an error. Fixes are logged in the corrections log.
32 years on the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia. Data as of 2026-08-10. Informational only; verify against the primary source before relying. Not a consumer report (FCRA).