Wilbur Dawson Owens Jr.
Appointed by President Richard M. Nixon in 1972 and confirmed by voice vote, Wilbur Dawson Owens Jr. was a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Georgia. He earned a law degree from University of Georgia School of Law in 1952. Rulings & record ↓ Sources ↓
- Lived
- 1930–2010
- Appointed by
- Richard M. Nixon, 1972
- Confirmed
- by voice vote
- Education
- University of Georgia Law 1952
- Succeeded
- William Augustus Bootle
- Succeeded by
- Hugh Lawson
Federal judicial service
| Year | Court | Appointed by | Vote |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1972 | Middle District of Georgia succeeded William Augustus Bootle | Nixon (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
| University of Georgia School of Law | LL.B. | 1952 |
Judicial Record
Caseload & case types
In our data, Owens was assigned 3,497 district-court cases (1980–2007). Median time from filing to termination: 280 days across 3,492 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 45 of Owens’s decisions reviewed on the merits by the U.S. courts of appeals in our data, 38 were affirmed, 6 reversed or vacated, and 1 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, Owens authored 367 published opinions for the court (1972–2007). Most cited: MacOn Prestressed Concrete Co. v. Duke (61 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A selective record from published opinions in the CourtListener corpus, not every ruling; most unpublished district orders are not included.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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1985 | MacOn Prestressed Concrete Co. v. Duke | 46 B.R. 727 | 61 |
| 1981 | ITT Industrial Credit Co. v. Scarboro (In Re Scarboro) | 13 B.R. 439 | 34 |
| 1976 | Willis v. Fournier | 418 F. Supp. 265 | 34 |
| 1983 | Future Time, Inc. v. Yates | 26 B.R. 1006 | 33 |
| 1979 | Holloway v. McElroy | 474 F. Supp. 1363 | 31 |
| 1978 | Coley v. M & M MARS, INC. | 461 F. Supp. 1073 | 29 |
| 1979 | Citizens Bank v. Ansley | 467 F. Supp. 51 | 26 |
| 1977 | In Re Staley | 426 F. Supp. 437 | 24 |
| 1991 | Branch v. G. Bernd Co. | 764 F. Supp. 1527 | 23 |
| 1986 | Bethlehem Steel Corp. v. Tidwell | 66 B.R. 932 | 23 |
| 1977 | In Re Norrell | 426 F. Supp. 435 | 23 |
| 1980 | Frazer v. KFC National Management Co. | 491 F. Supp. 1099 | 22 |
| 1978 | Hardwick v. Ault | 447 F. Supp. 116 | 22 |
| 1994 | Smith v. Upson County, Ga. | 859 F. Supp. 1504 | 21 |
| 1985 | Kelly v. MacOn-bibb County Board of Elections | 608 F. Supp. 1036 | 20 |
Showing the 15 most-cited of 367 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 Wilbur Dawson Owens Jr.?
- President Richard M. Nixon appointed Wilbur Dawson Owens Jr. to the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Georgia in 1972.
- Was Wilbur Dawson Owens Jr. appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?
- Wilbur Dawson Owens Jr. was appointed by President Richard M. Nixon, a Republican. JudicialFinder records the appointing president's party, not a judge's own politics.
- What was Wilbur Dawson Owens Jr.'s confirmation vote?
- Wilbur Dawson Owens Jr. was confirmed by voice vote on February 17, 1972. No senator-by-senator tally was recorded.
- Which court was Wilbur Dawson Owens Jr. on?
- Wilbur Dawson Owens Jr. was a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Middle 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.
38 years on the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Georgia. Data as of 2026-08-10. Informational only; verify against the primary source before relying. Not a consumer report (FCRA).