Lee Philip Rudofsky
How Judge Rudofsky rules, drawn from 13 signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
How Judge Rudofsky decides
Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
What persuades
Declines supplemental jurisdiction over novel or complex state-law claims on comity grounds, dismissing them without prejudice while retaining the federal claims.
“For the foregoing reasons, the TFDA claim is dismissed without prejudice. If Plaintiff requests a Rule 54(b) partial judgment on the TFDA claim (so that she can immediately proceed on that claim in state court), the Court will be inclined to grant it.”
In overtime cases, detailed route-by-route testimony and mutually consistent estimates can create a jury issue even when the employer disputes the hours and no precise time records exist.
“Mr. Heard’s and Mr. Piggee’s detailed testimonies and consistent hours-worked estimates could lead a rational juror to conclude that they each worked at least one hour of unpaid overtime”
In the reviewed insurance dispute, he began with the policy text and denied summary judgment where the insured identified no provision creating a duty to defend and a contract-liability exclusion independently foreclosed coverage.
“Under the unambiguous language of the contract, Church Mutual does not have the duty to defend Rose Hill in the state court suit brought by Service Restoration.”
In the reviewed energy-royalty case, he treated authorized exercise of statutory and contractual rights as inconsistent with unjust enrichment or deceptive-practices liability.
“Exercising one’s legitimate contractual and statutory rights—without more—cannot constitute a deceptive or fraudulent business practice.”
Procedural preferences
Strictly enforces local briefing rules: a motion to dismiss buried in an answer without a separate supporting brief is denied on that basis alone.
“Both Motions fail to comply with Local Rule 7.2. They are not accompanied by a brief.”
Requires a concrete downstream consequence for debt-collection standing; receiving required information in the wrong format or at the wrong time is insufficient when no resulting harm is alleged.
“Without ‘downstream consequences,’ this is not a concrete injury. Without a concrete injury, Mr. Cheatham does not have standing.”
In the reviewed show-cause decision, intentional misrepresentations and willful disobedience produced monetary, continuing-education, client-notice, fee-shifting, and disciplinary-referral consequences; the order calibrated the penalties to deterrence and the lawyer's resources.
“the consequences must be significant enough to deter her from this type of conduct in the future.”
Cautions
Measures deadline requests by diligence: a lengthy unexplained delay after learning of an adverse development is fatal to an out-of-time or excusable-neglect request.
“The Court denies the various outstanding requests for leave to file out of time a response to the Motion to confirm the arbitration award and to dismiss the case with prejudice.”
A one-time sale initiated by an Arkansas buyer, followed by retrieval of the product for repair, did not establish purposeful direction sufficient for personal jurisdiction over the out-of-state seller.
“The mere fact that Sparks Motors retrieved the vehicle from the buyer in a one-time sale gone bad does not change the foregoing analysis.”
At summary judgment in the reviewed prisoner-medical case, he rejected speculation about an institutional policy and excluded out-of-court medical statements that did not qualify as admissions by the defendants or their agents.
“To the extent any submissions by Mr. Flemons could be construed as contending otherwise, such contentions are supported by nothing more than impermissible speculation.”
Signed rulings
A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.
“Federal-Mogul's two pending Motions are denied in their entireties.”
“Both Motions fail to comply with Local Rule 7.2. They are not accompanied by a brief. This is not just a technical foot fault. ... This is reason enough to deny the Motions.”
“For good cause shown, the Court hereby confirms the Arbitrator's decision in favor of Defendant and dismisses the present action with prejudice.”
“The Court denies the various outstanding requests for leave to file out of time a response to the Motion to confirm the arbitration award and to dismiss the case with prejudice.”
“The Court therefore DISMISSES WITH PREJUDICE Plaintiff's claims against Ribelin Sales Inc., now known as Azelies Americas CASE, LLC.”
“Defendants' Motion for Summary Judgment (Doc. 43) is GRANTED. Judgment will be entered accordingly.”
“Accordingly, on all other claims brought by Plaintiff, summary judgment is granted in favor of Defendant. Judgment on those claims will be entered at the end of the case.”
“For the foregoing reasons, the TFDA claim is dismissed without prejudice. If Plaintiff requests a Rule 54(b) partial judgment on the TFDA claim (so that she can immediately proceed on that claim in state court), the Court will be inclined to grant it.”
“Sparks Motors’s Amended Motion to Dismiss is GRANTED in part and DENIED in part. The Clerk of the Court is directed to TRANSFER the entire case file to the District of Utah.”
“Accordingly, Defendant’s Motion for Summary Judgment is GRANTED in part and DENIED in part. New Age is granted summary judgment on the claims brought by Mr. Williams and Mr. Jamerson, but not on the claims brought by Mr. Heard and Mr. Piggee.”
“Ms. Adams’s Motion to Dismiss with Prejudice is GRANTED in part. Mr. Cheatham’s FDCPA and AFDCPA claims are dismissed, but without prejudice, for lack of standing.”
After a show-cause hearing, the court imposed monetary, continuing-education, client-notice, and disciplinary-referral sanctions on former counsel for intentionally misleading the court and willfully disobeying an order. The decision is retained as signed procedural context but contains no party motion classified in the statistics.
“Accordingly, Defendants’ Motion for Summary Judgment (Doc. 33) is DENIED. Plaintiff may proceed with his free exercise of religion claims.”
“Medical Defendants’ Motion for Summary Judgment (Doc. 125) is GRANTED IN PART while the ADC Defendants’ Motion for Summary Judgment (Doc. 128) is GRANTED IN FULL.”
“Plaintiff’s Motion for Appointment of Expert and Examining Doctor (Doc. 149) is DENIED because the Court agrees with the RD’s conclusion that no additional expert testimony is necessary to decide this case.”
“Plaintiff’s Motion to Consider Belated Objections or in the Alternative Reconsider Decision of Untimely Filing (Doc. 153) is moot because the Court is considering as timely objections all papers filed by the Plaintiff between the issuance of the RD and the date of today’s Order.”
“For the foregoing reasons, all three of Defendants’ Motions for Summary Judgment are GRANTED.”
Caseload & timing
From public federal docket records for this judge.
Among the reviewed terminated cases, prisoner civil-rights matters lasted roughly seven to fourteen months, while contested employment and tort matters lasted about 1.3 years to more than two years. This limited group does not represent the full docket.
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