Eumi K. Lee
How Judge Lee rules, drawn from 32 signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
About Judge Lee
Eumi Kim Lee is a judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of California. Appointed by President Joseph R. Biden, Judge Lee received a commission on May 7, 2024.
Judge Lee's practices and standing orders
Rules for cases before Judge Lee, as published on the court's website (checked October 8, 2026). Judges revise these often, so confirm the current version on the court's site before you file.
Key rules
Motions
Reserve a hearing date jointly with the courtroom deputy before filing a civil motion.
“Civil motions are heard by reservation only. After reviewing the website, parties and counsel shall meet and confer to identify proposed hearing dates that are amenable to all relevant 1 parties and counsel. Parties shall jointly contact Judge Lee’s Courtroom Deputy via email at [email protected] to reserve a hearing date.”
Conferences
File a joint case management statement fourteen days before any case management or status conference.
“Parties must prepare and file a joint case management statement fourteen (14) days prior to the date of any case management or status conference.”
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 8, 2026).
How Judge Lee decides
Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
What persuades
In Salinas v. Keefe Commissary Network, she transferred the case to Missouri after finding that the operative events occurred there and that the plaintiff's choice of a California forum carried less weight.
“Here, the operative facts occurred exclusively in Missouri, not California.”
Procedural preferences
In Burns v. Amazon.com Services, she stayed a later-filed class action after finding substantial overlap with an earlier case and weighing the competing interests in a stay.
“Because the first to file rule applies, the Court finds that a stay is appropriate. In reaching this conclusion, the Court has also balanced competing interests”
In the Inari patent case, she limited a stay pending patent review to four months and scheduled a reassessment after further institution decisions.
“This action is STAYED in its entirety until February 4, 2026.”
Cautions
In the Miranda education case, she denied stay-put relief because a private-school reimbursement award did not decide the merits of the student’s current educational placement.
“In awarding reimbursement of costs, ALJ Martin did not expressly address the merits of Student’s educational placement and did not reach the issue of a stay put order.”
In Xie’s habeas case, Lee denied a preliminary injunction after finding no serious merits question or likelihood of success, without reaching the remaining injunction factors.
“Because Petitioner has not raised serious questions going to the merits or shown a likelihood of success on her claims, the Court need not reach the other Winter elements.”
Signed rulings
A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.
“For the foregoing reasons, Apple's motion to dismiss the second amended complaint is DENIED. Apple shall file an answer to the second amended complaint within 21 days of this Order.”
“For the foregoing reasons, the Motion is GRANTED IN PART as to AON's breach of contract claim and is otherwise DENIED. Within fourteen days of this Order, AON may file an amended complaint to address the pleading deficiencies identified above.”
“Defendant's motion to dismiss is GRANTED as to Count 1 (various state consumer protection acts) and Count 3 (CLRA). ... Defendant's motion to dismiss is DENIED as to Count 2 (FAL), Count 4 (UCL), Count 5 (breach of express warranty), Count 6 (quasi-contract), Count 7 (negligent misrepresentation), and Count 8 (intentional misrepresentation).”
“For the foregoing reasons, the Court will exclude Hollon's proposed testimony as to whether Panchenko is a victim of identity theft. ... In all other respects, Comenity's motion is DENIED.”
“Defendants' motion to dismiss is GRANTED IN PART as to the unfair competition claims asserted by TAM and Fund 4, with leave to amend, and DENIED on the remaining grounds.”
“Accordingly, the Court GRANTS the Motion to Dismiss Count 1 without leave to amend because Matthews does not allege any facts that could state a claim under this theory of liability, and the claim was asserted in error.”
“Accordingly, eHealth's Motion to Dismiss Count 2 is DENIED.”
“The Court GRANTS eHealth's Motion to Strike the class definition with leave to amend consistent with the discussion above ... The Court DENIES the Motion to Strike in all other respects.”
“For the following reasons, the Court GRANTS WITH LEAVE TO AMEND Defendants' motions to dismiss.”
“Accordingly, AGI7 has demonstrated that both bases for invoking equitable estoppel apply here. Accordingly, the Court GRANTS AGI7's motion to compel arbitration.”
“For the foregoing reasons, the Court GRANTS the motion to compel arbitration as to all claims, except for Turing's request for injunctive relief. Additionally, the Court GRANTS the motion to stay this action in its entirety until arbitration concludes.”
“Because Defendant has met its burden to show that more than $5 million is at stake in this case, the motion to remand is DENIED.”
“For the foregoing reasons, the Court GRANTS Walmart's motion to compel individual arbitration as to all claims, except for Shugars' representative PAGA claim.”
“Additionally, the Court GRANTS Walmart's motion to stay this action in its entirety until arbitration concludes.”
“Because these important elements are lacking, Plex has not met its burden to show the existence of an agreement to arbitrate. Accordingly, Plex's motion to compel arbitration is DENIED.”
“Plex's motion to dismiss Plaintiff's claims against Plex GmbH for lack of personal jurisdiction is GRANTED with leave to amend.”
“Plex's motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim is DENIED.”
“Accordingly, Plex's motion to strike class allegations is DENIED.”
“Accordingly, Plex's motion to transfer is DENIED.”
Caseload & timing
From public federal docket records for this judge.
The fixed cohort contains 15 civil filings from September and October 2024: nine have a recorded termination date and six do not. The observed subjects include copyright, immigration, prisoner matters, securities, insurance, employment, and personal injury. The nine recorded filing-to-termination intervals span 45 to 509 days; those dates do not identify how each case ended.
Pending matters in the official report
Reported by the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts under the Civil Justice Reform Act, as of March 31, 2026.
| Motions pending more than six months | 0 |
| 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 2026 | 0 | 1 |
| Sep 2025 | 0 | 0 |
| Mar 2025 | 1 | 0 |
| Sep 2024 | 0 | 0 |
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.
How long civil cases take in this court
For the whole of United States District Court for the Northern District of California, not for Judge Lee: median time from filing to disposition of the civil cases the court closed in the 12 months ending September 30, 2025, as reported by the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts.
| Cases | Median time | |
|---|---|---|
| All civil cases closed | 6,017 | 7.7 months |
| Closed with no court action | 2,955 | 5.5 months |
| Closed before pretrial | 1,978 | 7.6 months |
| Closed during or after pretrial | 1,052 | 15 months |
| Closed during trial | 32 | 36.9 months |
| 12 months ending | Cases closed | Median time |
|---|---|---|
| Sep 2025 | 6,017 | 7.7 months |
| Sep 2024 | 9,248 | 20.6 months |
| Sep 2023 | 5,452 | 7 months |
| Sep 2022 | 9,464 | 11.4 months |
| Sep 2021 | 6,437 | 6.3 months |
| Sep 2020 | 6,881 | 11.4 months |
| Sep 2019 | 5,640 | 8.7 months |
The table leaves out prisoner petitions, land condemnations, deportation reviews, recovery of overpayments and enforcement of judgments, and reports no median for fewer than 10 cases. A district that closed a large multidistrict litigation in the period shows very large counts and long medians for that year. Source: Table C-5, U.S. District Courts (spreadsheet).
Draft for Judge Lee with the record in hand
Ezel grounds your drafting and research in this profile: what has persuaded Judge Lee, and what has not, cited to the signed orders.
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