Lesley Brooks Wells
Appointed by President William J. Clinton in 1994 and confirmed by voice vote, Lesley Brooks Wells was a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio. She earned a law degree from Cleveland State University, Cleveland-Marshall College of Law in 1974. Rulings & record ↓ Sources ↓
- Lived
- 1937–2025
- Appointed by
- William J. Clinton, 1994
- Confirmed
- by voice vote
- Education
- Chatham College 1959 · Cleveland State, Cleveland-Marshall College of Law 1974
- Succeeded
- John Michael Manos
- Succeeded by
- Sara Elizabeth Lioi
Federal judicial service
| Year | Court | Appointed by | Vote |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1994 | Northern District of Ohio succeeded John Michael Manos | Clinton (D) | 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
| Chatham College | B.A. | 1959 |
| Cleveland State University, Cleveland-Marshall College of Law | J.D. | 1974 |
Judicial Record
Caseload & case types
In our data, Wells was assigned 3,281 district-court cases (1983–2015). Median time from filing to termination: 214 days across 3,281 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 112 of Wells’s decisions reviewed on the merits by the U.S. courts of appeals in our data, 96 were affirmed, 10 reversed or vacated, and 6 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, Wells authored 115 published opinions for the court (1994–2011). Most cited: Resource Title Agency, Inc. v. Morreale Real Estate Services, Inc. (50 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A selective record from published opinions in the CourtListener corpus, not every ruling; most unpublished district orders are not included.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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2004 | Resource Title Agency, Inc. v. Morreale Real Estate Services, Inc. | 314 F. Supp. 2d 763 | 50 |
| 2004 | Ellis v. Cleveland Municipal School District | 309 F. Supp. 2d 1019 | 33 |
| 1998 | Picker International, Inc. v. Travelers Indemnity Co. | 35 F. Supp. 2d 570 | 31 |
| 2008 | Hout v. City of Mansfield | 550 F. Supp. 2d 701 | 22 |
| 2004 | Carrion v. Wilkinson | 309 F. Supp. 2d 1007 | 18 |
| 2005 | United States v. Harchar | 331 B.R. 720 | 15 |
| 1994 | Smith v. City of Elyria | 857 F. Supp. 1203 | 15 |
| 2008 | Risner v. Ohio Department of Rehabilitation & Correction | 577 F. Supp. 2d 953 | 13 |
| 2004 | Asad v. Continental Airlines, Inc. | 314 F. Supp. 2d 726 | 13 |
| 1994 | Ivan v. Kent State University | 863 F. Supp. 581 | 13 |
| 2007 | Mid-West Materials, Inc. v. Tougher Industries, Inc. | 484 F. Supp. 2d 726 | 12 |
| 2003 | Extracorporeal Alliance, L.L.C. v. Rosteck | 285 F. Supp. 2d 1028 | 12 |
| 2000 | Vass v. Riester & Thesmacher Co. | 79 F. Supp. 2d 853 | 12 |
| 1994 | LaCroix v. American Horse Show Ass'n | 853 F. Supp. 992 | 12 |
| 2007 | Dotson v. Wilkinson | 477 F. Supp. 2d 838 | 11 |
Showing the 15 most-cited of 115 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 Lesley Brooks Wells?
- President William J. Clinton appointed Lesley Brooks Wells to the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio in 1994.
- Was Lesley Brooks Wells appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?
- Lesley Brooks Wells was appointed by President William J. Clinton, a Democrat. JudicialFinder records the appointing president's party, not a judge's own politics.
- What was Lesley Brooks Wells's confirmation vote?
- Lesley Brooks Wells was confirmed by voice vote on February 10, 1994. No senator-by-senator tally was recorded.
- Which court was Lesley Brooks Wells on?
- Lesley Brooks Wells was a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio.
Sources
Each fact on this page traces to a primary public record.
- FJC Biographical Directory
- Wikidata
- Portrait: United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit (Public domain), via Wikimedia Commons
- 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.
21 years on the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio. Data as of 2026-08-10. Informational only; verify against the primary source before relying. Not a consumer report (FCRA).