Barbara A. McAuliffe
How Judge McAuliffe decides
Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
Procedural preferences
On nondispositive matters within her direct authority as a magistrate judge (such as a request to substitute counsel) McAuliffe rules by order rather than by recommendation to the district judge.
“The Court HEREBY ORDERS that the request for substitution, (ECF No. 15), is GRANTED.”
Signed rulings
A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.
In a prisoner civil-rights case temporarily referred to her, McAuliffe recommended dismissal without prejudice after the plaintiff stopped updating his address and court mail was repeatedly returned as undeliverable. District Judge Kirk E. Sherriff adopted the recommendation after de novo review. Applying the five-factor failure-to-prosecute test, she found dismissal appropriate because the plaintiff had ceased communicating and no lesser sanction was available.
During statutory screening of a pro se prisoner's amended complaint, McAuliffe found the pleading failed Rule 8 and did not state an Eighth Amendment claim. The allegations described verbal sexual harassment without physical contact, which the cited circuit authority did not treat as sufficiently serious to violate the Constitution. Because the plaintiff had already received an opportunity to amend, she recommended dismissal without further leave.
“The Court HEREBY ORDERS that the request for substitution, (ECF No. 15), is GRANTED.”
After a pro se plaintiff appeared to miss the deadline for a second amended complaint, McAuliffe recommended dismissal for failure to obey court orders, prosecute, or state a claim. When the new complaint was docketed the next day with a timely filing date, she promptly vacated that recommendation and returned the case to screening.
Put Judge McAuliffe's record to work
Ezel drafts and answers grounded in this exact profile: how Judge McAuliffe actually rules, not a generic AI guess.
Opens in Ezel Pro. Every answer is grounded in Judge McAuliffe's own signed orders and cites them.