Dennis Montali
How Judge Montali rules, drawn from 18 signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
About Judge Montali
Dennis Montali has served as a United States Bankruptcy Judge for the Northern District of California since April 1993. He served on the Ninth Circuit Bankruptcy Appellate Panel from 2000 through 2010 and was its chief judge in 2009 and 2010. He earned degrees from the University of Notre Dame and the University of California, Berkeley.
Judge Montali's practices and standing orders
Rules for cases before Judge Montali, as published on the court's website (checked October 10, 2026). Judges revise these often, so confirm the current version on the court's site before you file.
Key rules
Filing
Convert proposed orders directly to PDF without scanning.
“Uploaded orders should be converted to PDF electronically, not scanned.”
Motions
A request to shorten time must be written and supported by a declaration describing efforts to obtain the opposing party’s consent.
“The party should make the request in writing and submit a declaration describing the efforts made to obtain the consent of the opposing party to the order shortening time.”
Motions
Give opposing parties at least 72 hours’ notice and service of moving papers for a temporary restraining order.
“Moving parties should give at least 72 hours’ notice to, and service of moving papers upon, opposing parties.”
Motions
Obtain a clerk’s default before seeking default judgment in an adversary proceeding.
“A clerk’s default must be obtained first.”
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 10, 2026).
How Judge Montali decides
Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
What persuades
He expects an expert report to disclose the actual reasoning connecting facts to an opinion, not merely the ultimate conclusion.
“the report should offer the ‘how and why’ of the results, not mere conclusions.”
In discharge litigation, a credible factual explanation can satisfy the debtor's burden even when the underlying recordkeeping practice was poor.
“The court does accept that explanation, not because it condones the practice but because it is credible and has not been rebutted.”
Cautions
A party seeking bankruptcy relief while withholding adequate protection risks losing stay protection even if it preserves separate merits objections.
“If you want to gamble in the casino and hope to hit the jackpot, you can’t expect to win by using house money.”
Signed rulings
A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.
“Schoenmann is entitled to a chapter 13 administrative claim of $1,530.”
“the motion to abstain is granted and this adversary proceeding is dismissed.”
“E’s Preliminary Injunction Application will be denied”
“the Motion To Dismiss will be granted”
“the Motion For Summary Judgment will be denied as moot.”
“the court will grant the 365(n) Motion”
“and deny the Setoff Rights Motion.”
“the court will grant the Motion To Dismiss”
“and deny the Motion For Reconsideration.”
“the court will grant summary judgment in part and deny summary judgment in part.”
“the court is awarding debtor attorney’s fees in the amount of $4,585.00.”
“GRANTED. The debts for copyright infringement, libel per se, and sanctions, attorney fees and costs are nondischargeable under section 523(a)(6).”
“awarding it compensatory contempt damages consisting of fees of $3,067,938.86 and expenses of $129,952.16 for a total award of $3,197,891.02”
“the court will deny Rooz’s oral motion for remand”
“grant Roberta’s motion for judgment on the pleadings”
“deny without prejudice David’s combined motion to reopen his case and enforce the discharge injunction.”
“the court will grant summary judgment in favor of Michele and Silver Eagle with respect to certain breach of contract claims in the first count and to the contractual interference claims in the third count, will grant summary judgment in favor of Lockwood on the second and third counts, and will deny the balance”
“the Case Trustee’s objection to the Plan Trustee’s claim against the estate for $4,416,786.73 is SUSTAINED, with a portion of the claim being allowed in the amount of $215,179.71.”
Draft for Judge Montali with the record in hand
Ezel grounds your drafting and research in this profile: what has persuaded Judge Montali, and what has not, cited to the signed orders.
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