Sallie Kim
How Judge Kim decides
Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
What persuades
On spoliation, Kim applies the Clear-View Technologies framework: an obligation to preserve at the time of destruction, a culpable state of mind, and relevance of the lost evidence -- and will recommend a (permissive) adverse-inference instruction when all three are met.
“the Magistrate found that: (1) Defendant had an obligation to preserve the file when it was destroyed; (2) she acted with “a culpable state of mind”; and (3) the evidence was potentially relevant to the claims made by Plaintiff.”
Cautions
A magistrate's recommendation is not a guaranteed outcome: here the district judge accepted Kim's spoliation findings but rejected the recommended adverse-inference instruction as premature, deferring it to motions in limine. Treat R&R recommendations as recommendations, not final rulings.
“the Court finds, upon further review of the matter, that it is premature to address Plaintiff's request for an adverse inference instruction.”
Motion outcomes
Counted from classified signed orders only. Percentages are shown only where the sample is large enough to be meaningful; smaller samples are reported as raw counts.
| Dismissal res judicata recommendation N = 1 |
counts only | |
| Default judgment recommendation N = 1 |
counts only | |
| Screening or pleading dismissal recommendation N = 1 |
counts only | |
| Spoliation adverse inference recommendation N = 1 |
counts only |
A "1 of 1" is one ruling, not a tendency. Treat small samples as illustrative, not predictive.
Signed rulings
A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.
“The Court has reviewed Magistrate Judge Sallie Kim's Report and Recommendation ... recommending dismissal of this case based on res judicata grounds. ... this case is DISMISSED WITH PREJUDICE based on res judicata.”
“The Court has reviewed Magistrate Judge Sallie Kim's report and recommendation ... and her amended report and recommendation ... to grant Plaintiff RIC (San Leandro) LLC's motion for default judgment ... and adopts them in every respect. Default judgment against Defendant Miller is granted in the amount of $42,264,930.42.”
“On September 30, 2024, Magistrate Judge Sallie Kim issued a Report and Recommendation that I dismiss this case without prejudice. ... I agree with Judge Kim's Report and Recommendation and adopt it in full. ... Accordingly, this action is DISMISSED without prejudice.”
“Magistrate's Report and Recommendation is ACCEPTED, except with respect to her recommendation to give an adverse inference instruction, which is REJECTED as premature. Plaintiff's Motion for Adverse Inference Instruction is DENIED without prejudice to renewal upon the Court's resolution of the admissibility of evidence pertaining to Defendant's relationship with Mr. Kelley.”
Caseload & timing
From public federal docket records for this judge.
Kim's docket caseload under assigned_judge='Sallie Kim' (2022 filed window). As a magistrate she is the initially-assigned judge in San Francisco; her docket is notably heavy on qui tam / False Claims Act, with securities, ADA access, FLSA/labor, civil rights, FTCA, immigration mandamus, copyright (Strike 3), Social Security appeals, ERISA collections, and FOIA. Durations are filing-to-termination case durations, NOT motion-to-ruling latency.