Roger Jeffrey Miner

U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit circuit Deceased · served 1985–2012 Appointed by Ronald Reagan (Republican) 30 signed orders read

Judge Miner no longer hears cases. This profile is preserved as a historical record of how they ruled.

How Judge Miner decides

Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.

What persuades

Read the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act as a strict-liability statute, holding that even a single false or misleading statement in a collection letter violates it and that the collector's culpability matters only to damages.

“The FDCPA is a strict liability statute”

Procedural preferences

Declined to expand the narrow, historically fixed categories of unprotected speech to reach depictions of violence, keeping a content-based restriction squarely within strict scrutiny.

“We decline any invitation to expand these narrow categories of speech to include depictions of violence.”

Cautions

Held the government to a demanding evidentiary standard when it defends a speech restriction, requiring real and non-conjectural proof of harm rather than legislative surmise.

“The First Amendment thus imposes a high standard of precision on legislative efforts to regulate the content of speech.”

Signed rulings

A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.

In re "Agent Orange" Product Liability Litigation (Appeal of David Dean)
· 1987-04-21
Appeal (appellant) Granted

“places class counsel in a potentially conflicting position in relation to the interests of the class, we reverse.”

United Air Lines, Inc. v. Austin Travel Corp.
· 1989-02-01
Appeal (appellant) Denied

“The judgment of the district court is hereby affirmed.”

United States v. Moskowitz (Appeal of Jeffrey Allen Toffler)
· 1989-10-13
Appeal (appellant) Granted in part

“The matter is remanded to the district court with instructions to combine the convictions under Counts Three and Four and to resentence under Count Four. In all other respects, the judgment of the district court is affirmed.”

United States v. Cruz (and Luis Olivier)
· 1990-01-09
Appeal (appellant) Denied

“The judgment is affirmed.”

United States v. Rico (Appeal of Elizabeth Baron)
· 1990-05-01
Appeal (appellant) Denied

“The judgment is affirmed.”

Joint Apprenticeship & Training Council of Local 363 v. New York State Department of Labor
· 1993-01-27
Appeal (appellant) Denied

“For the reasons set forth below, we affirm the judgment of the district court.”

Salahuddin v. Coughlin
· 1993-05-14
Appeal (appellant) Granted in part

“the judgment is reversed, and the case is remanded for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.”

May Department Stores Co. v. International Leasing Corp.
· 1993-08-03
Appeal (appellant) Granted

“The judgment of the district court is reversed and the case is remanded for further proceedings consistent with the foregoing.”

Bentley v. Great Lakes Collection Bureau
· 1993-09-15
Appeal (appellant) Granted

“The judgment of the district court is reversed and the case remanded for further proceedings consistent with the foregoing.”

Martz v. Incorporated Village of Valley Stream
· 1994-04-07
Appeal (appellant) Denied

“the judgment of the district court is Affermed.”

Counihan v. Allstate Insurance Company
· 1994-05-26
Appeal (appellant) Granted

“we reject the notion of retroactive divestiture of an insurable interest and therefore reverse and remand in accordance with the analysis that follows.”

Vernon v. Cassadaga Valley Central School District
· 1995-03-08
Appeal (appellant) Denied

“We affirm.”

A historical record

Judge Miner no longer hears cases. This profile stays available as a record of how they ruled. If you're preparing for a matter, start from the court's current bench.