Alexander F. MacKinnon
How Judge MacKinnon rules, drawn from 3 signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
Judge MacKinnon no longer sits on this court. This profile is preserved as a historical record of how they ruled here.
About Judge MacKinnon
Alexander F. MacKinnon served as a United States magistrate judge for the Central District of California from July 2015 until 2023. He handled civil matters in Los Angeles, and A. Joel Richlin succeeded him on the court.
How Judge MacKinnon decides
Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
What persuades
The court found no apparent vocational conflict where familiar sedentary jobs permitted the limited standing and stretching described in the residual functional capacity.
“there was not an obvious or apparent conflict between the VE’s testimony and the DOT descriptions for check cashier and telephone solicitor”
Remand was appropriate where an omitted mental restriction prevented meaningful review of the path the agency took to its decision.
“prevents a meaningful review of the path taken by the agency in reaching its decision”
Unresolved conflicts in medical-opinion evidence favored further proceedings rather than an immediate award of benefits.
“further proceedings would be useful in clarifying the record here and resolving conflicts relating to the medical opinion evidence”
Signed rulings
A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.
“Judgment be entered affirming the decision of the Commissioner and dismissing this action with prejudice”
“Judgment be entered reversing the decision of the Commissioner of Social Security and remanding this matter for further administrative proceedings”
“Judgment be entered reversing the decision of the Commissioner of Social Security and remanding this matter for further administrative proceedings”
Caseload & timing
From public federal docket records for this judge.
All fifteen sampled matters had terminated. Their median duration was 261 days, with a range of 11 to 494 days.
Pending matters in the official report
Judge MacKinnon was last listed in the Civil Justice Reform Act report as of March 31, 2023.
| Motions pending more than six months | 2 |
| Bench trials submitted more than six months | 0 |
| Bankruptcy appeals pending more than six months | 0 |
| Social Security appeals pending more than six months | 0 |
| Civil cases pending more than three years | 1 |
| Report | Motions over six months | Cases over three years |
|---|---|---|
| Mar 2023 | 2 | 1 |
| Sep 2022 | 0 | 0 |
| Mar 2022 | 0 | 2 |
| Sep 2021 | 0 | 2 |
| Mar 2021 | 0 | 1 |
| Sep 2020 | 3 | 1 |
A snapshot on that date: matters listed may since have been decided or reassigned. A motion referred to a magistrate judge is counted for both judges. Motions in multidistrict litigation, section 2255 cases and Social Security appeals are not counted, and a very large three-year count is generally a multidistrict docket. Source: Appendix A of the report (PDF); about the report.
A historical record
Judge MacKinnon no longer sits on this court. This profile stays available as a record of how they ruled here. If you're preparing for a matter, start from the court's current bench.