Barbara Lagoa
How Judge Lagoa rules, drawn from 59 signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
About Judge Lagoa
Barbara Lagoa is a judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit. Appointed by President Donald J. Trump, Judge Lagoa received a commission on December 6, 2019.
Judge Lagoa's practices and standing orders
The court's website lists no individual practices or standing orders of Judge Lagoa's own (checked October 11, 2026), so the court's local rules and general orders are the place to look (court page ↗).
Standing orders for every case in this court
Orders the court applies to all of its cases, whichever judge has them, as published on the court's website (checked October 11, 2026).
How Judge Lagoa decides
Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
What persuades
In a Prison Litigation Reform Act case, she read § 1915(g) to apply only to actions commenced in federal court by prisoners granted in forma pauperis status there.
“The plain and ordinary meaning of § 1915(g) is clear—it only applies to cases commenced in federal court by a prisoner who sought and was granted in forma pauperis status in that court.”
Arbitration depends on consent; a policy favoring arbitration does not authorize compelling a nonsignatory who never agreed to arbitrate the dispute.
“Without an agreement to arbitrate, ‘a court cannot compel the parties to settle their dispute in an arbitral forum.’”
A party is entitled to a jury determination when record evidence creates a genuine dispute on consent, particularly where the same evidence bears on intertwined liability claims.
“evidence of Doe’s consent to her encounter with Anggara creates a dispute of material fact under either legal framework.”
Procedural preferences
A discretionary sentencing decision still needs a reasoned explanation sufficient for meaningful appellate review.
“A bare bones order that solely denies or grants a sentence reduction without more is insufficient to allow for meaningful appellate review.”
In a dispute over Florida’s statutory safe harbor, she identified the dispositive question as exclusively one of Florida law and supported certification to the state court.
“Moreover, the answer to how Florida’s statutory safe harbor operates is exclusively one of Florida law.”
In Positano Place v. Empire Indemnity Insurance, Lagoa held that an order compelling insurance appraisal while staying the case was interlocutory and not immediately appealable under § 1292(a)(1).
“we conclude that the district court’s order compelling appraisal and staying the proceedings pending appraisal is an interlocutory order that is not immediately appealable under 28 U.S.C. § 1292(a)(1).”
Signed rulings
A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.
“Based on the foregoing reasons, we affirm Andres's convictions and sentences. AFFIRMED.”
“Because the district court applied the incorrect legal standard in denying Nationwide’s motion in limine, we vacate the final judgment and remand for the district court to apply Alabama’s rules of issue preclusion to determine the issue of privity in the first instance.”
“Because Alfaro-Garcia illegally reentered the United States from Mexico following his removal, the BIA correctly determined that it could not reopen the removal proceedings. Accordingly, we deny Alfaro-Garcia’s petition for review.”
“Because Armstrong's sentence reduction pursuant to Section 3582(c) was not a plenary resentencing proceeding, it does not constitute a new, intervening judgment, and Magwood does not reset the count for purposes of AEDPA's bar on second or successive Section 2255 motions. ... Accordingly, we affirm the district court's dismissal of Armstrong's Section 2255 habeas petition. AFFIRMED.”
“For the reasons discussed above, we affirm the district court's denial of Maradiaga's motion for a new trial. AFFIRMED.”
“Because the district court lacked jurisdiction over the Pareskys' standalone overpayment interest claim, we affirm the district court's dismissal of the amended complaint. AFFIRMED.”
“Accordingly, for the reasons discussed, we vacate and remand for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.”
“Because a sentence reduction under the First Step Act does not constitute a new judgment for purposes of AEDPA's bar on second or successive habeas petitions, Telcy was required to obtain authorization from this Court before filing his second Section 2255 petition. ... We therefore affirm the district court's order dismissing Telcy's Section 2255 petition as second or successive. AFFIRMED.”
“We therefore respectfully certify this issue of Florida law discussed below to the highest court of that state. ... For the foregoing reasons, we defer our decision in this case until the Florida Supreme Court has had the opportunity to consider our certified questions and determine whether to exercise its discretion in answering them. QUESTIONS CERTIFIED.”
“For the foregoing reasons, we reverse the district court's dismissal of both Maldonado's and Hill's claims and remand for further proceedings. REVERSED AND REMANDED.”
“affirm the district court’s dismissal of Newbauer’s complaint for failure to state a claim.”
“For the reasons stated, we conclude that the district court did not err in denying Lee's motion to dismiss the 2020 Indictment on double jeopardy grounds and therefore affirm the district court. AFFIRMED.”
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