Rita F. Lin
How Judge Lin rules, drawn from 36 signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
About Judge Lin
Rita Faye Lin is a judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of California. Appointed by President Joseph R. Biden, Judge Lin received a commission on October 4, 2023.
Judge Lin's practices and standing orders
Rules for cases before Judge Lin, 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
Filing
Do not submit paper courtesy copies unless the court requests them.
“Paper courtesy copies shall not be submitted unless the Court requests them.”
Filing
File a redlined or highlighted comparison with any amended pleading.
“If a party files an amended pleading, they shall concurrently file a redlined or highlighted version comparing the amended pleading to the prior operative pleading.”
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 Lin decides
Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
What persuades
In Scalant's jail medical-care case, she held that the detainee's allegations plausibly described more than negligence and denied the doctor's dismissal motion.
“Defendant’s motion to dismiss (Dkt. No. 34) is DENIED.”
Procedural preferences
Leave to amend limits new claims and parties, but does not automatically bar new facts supporting an existing claim unless the prior order says so.
“the Motion to Dismiss Order only prohibited Plaintiffs from adding ‘new claims or parties’ without leave, it did not expressly prohibit Plaintiffs from adding new factual allegations to their existing claims.”
In Saechao’s class-certification dispute, Lin compelled the employer to disclose the employee data it had provided to its expert and then used to oppose certification.
“UPS was required to provide Saechao with the employee data it provided to Crandall when it disclosed Crandall’s expert report.”
Cautions
A request for leave to amend made only in a footnote may be treated as waived.
“Plaintiffs request leave to amend in a footnote. (Dkt. No. 311 at 6 n. 1.) The request is waived.”
An ERISA fee complaint needs facts showing that proposed comparator plans are actually comparable, not merely similar in size.
“Though Clark need not compare ‘only Gala apples to Gala apples,’ she still must plausibly allege that the comparator plans are apples rather than oranges.”
A sur-reply request should identify genuinely new matter; additional immaterial facts or arguments that could have appeared in the opposition do not justify another brief.
“Cammas’s request to file a sur-reply is DENIED because the additional argument he wants to provide concerns either immaterial factual matters, points raised in Defendants’ opening brief that he could have addressed in his opposition brief, or arguments raised in Defendants’ reply brief that responded to points raised in the opposition brief.”
Signed rulings
A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.
“For the foregoing reasons, the Court DENIES the Motion.”
“Defendants' motion to dismiss is GRANTED WITH LEAVE TO AMEND.”
“Plaintiff's Motions for Leave to Substitute Exhibits and to File Supplemental Evidence (Dkt. Nos. 24, 25) are DENIED.”
The order approved a stipulated briefing extension and is retained as procedural context without a classified motion outcome.
The order gave a self-represented plaintiff another opportunity to respond to a pending dismissal motion and is retained as procedural context without a classified outcome.
“Accordingly, this action does not lack complete diversity, so the motion is DENIED.”
“Summary judgment is therefore DENIED as to Sanders' sexual orientation discrimination claim and Levels' race and gender discrimination claims.”
“Summary judgment is therefore GRANTED in favor of the District as to Sanders' gender-identity discrimination claim.”
“Summary judgment is GRANTED as to Sanders' and Levels' hostile work environment claims, which are time-barred.”
“Therefore, summary judgment as to Sanders' and Levels' retaliation claims is DENIED.”
“The motion to compel arbitration is GRANTED. Defendants have submitted adequate proof that S.G. is bound by the End User License Agreement (‘EULA’) containing the arbitration provision.”
“The motion to strike is DENIED. Paylocity concedes that the allegations in question ‘could be used to support’ the breach of contract claim that the prior dismissal order did not address.”
“Accordingly, and for the reasons described in the Order, the federal claims (i.e., the FDCPA and FCRA claims) are dismissed with prejudice and the state law claims (i.e., the Business and Professions Code § 17100, Rosenthal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, and Elder Abuse claims) are dismissed without prejudice to refiling in state court.”
“Brown's motion to remand is denied because federal court jurisdiction is proper under CAFA.”
“For the foregoing reasons, Brown's motion to remand is DENIED, Auto Warehousing's request for judicial notice is GRANTED, and Auto Warehousing's motion to dismiss is DENIED.”
“For the reasons stated below, the motion to compel arbitration is GRANTED, and the motion to dismiss is DENIED.”
“The motion for leave to file a Third Amended Complaint is granted.”
“With respect to Plaintiffs' equal protection claim, the Motion for Provisional Class Certification and Preliminary Injunction is DENIED for the reasons explained above.”
Caseload & timing
From public federal docket records for this judge.
Median case duration in the sampled dockets: 222 days (N = 16).
Median motion-to-ruling time: 88 days (N = 7).
- Lin's San Francisco caseload is a broad civil mix that includes consumer privacy and class actions, patents, antitrust, securities, employee benefits, employment and prisoner civil rights, habeas, insurance, consumer credit, environmental claims, and product liability.
- Many cases arrive after removal from state court or reassignment when the parties do not consent to magistrate-judge jurisdiction.
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 | 14 |
| Report | Motions over six months | Cases over three years |
|---|---|---|
| Mar 2026 | 0 | 14 |
| Sep 2025 | 0 | 8 |
| Mar 2025 | 0 | 5 |
| Sep 2024 | 0 | 0 |
| Mar 2024 | 0 | 0 |
| Sep 2023 | 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 Lin: 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).
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