Jeffrey T. Miller

How Judge Miller rules, drawn from 23 signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.

Court
United States District Court for the Southern District of California
Position
district
Status
Senior status
Appointed by
Bill Clinton (Democratic)
Commissioned
1997-05-27
Education
University of California, Los Angeles, B.A. (1964); University of California, Los Angeles School of Law, J.D. (1967)
Signed orders read
23

How Judge Miller decides

Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.

What persuades

When asked to confirm an arbitration award, Miller applies the narrow statutory review and does not revisit the arbitrator's underlying merits decision without evidence of manifest disregard or irrationality.

“Therefore, the court need not reach the issue of whether the arbitrator’s underlying decision was correct. Consequently, the court must confirm the arbitration award.”

Cautions

At the pleading stage, he construes class allegations in the plaintiff's favor on a motion to strike and may defer limitations and class-definition disputes rather than eliminate the class theory before a developed record.

“the court construes the FAC in the light most favorable to the Plaintiff, as it must on a Rule 12(f) motion, and concludes Plaintiff’s class allegations are sufficient.”

Signed rulings

A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.

Abeel v. Summit Lending Solutions, Inc. / NDEX West / OneWest Bank
3:09-cv-01892-JM-NLS · 2010-04-09
Motions to dismiss (defendant) Granted

“the court grants the motion to dismiss, or in the alternative for summary judgment, and dismisses all federal claims arising under TILA and RESPA; denies the TRO as moot, and dismisses all state law claims without prejudice. The Clerk of Court is instructed to close the file.”

Preliminary injunction (plaintiff) Moot / procedural

“In light of the dismissal of all federal claims with prejudice, and the dismissal of the state law claims without prejudice, the court denies the motion for a TRO as moot.”

Unique Functional Products, Inc. v. JCA Corporation
3:09-cv-00265-JM-MDD · 2012-02-03
Judgment on the pleadings (plaintiff) Granted in part

“UFP's motion is GRANTED as to UFP's fifth and seventeenth counterclaims. The motion is DENIED as to the twelfth counterclaim.”

D&D Landholdings v. Nation Direct Capital Corp. / James G. Ossie
3:05-cv-01605-JM-POR · 2007-11-21
Summary judgment (plaintiff) Granted

“the court hereby GRANTS Plaintiff's motion for summary judgment against the Ossie Defendants.”

Bugara v. Ryan
3:05-cv-00877-JM-CAB · 2007-02-21
Habeas petition (plaintiff) Denied

“the court wholly ADOPTS the conclusions and findings contained in the R&R, incorporated by reference herein... Accordingly, the court ADOPTS in whole the findings and conclusion contained in the R&R. The petition is hereby DENIED.”

Afridi v. United States
3:06-cv-02445-JM-AJB · 2008-02-07
Motion for reconsideration (plaintiff) Denied

“Plaintiff’s Motion for Reconsideration, or in the alternative, Motion for Extension of Time to File Notice of Appeal is DENIED.”

Kashani v. Adams
3:08-cv-00268-JM-WVG · 2009-09-11
Summary judgment (plaintiff) Granted

“the court grants the motion for partial summary judgment as to liability on each of the four claims.”

Bass v. Cate
3:08-cv-00274-JM-PCL · 2009-12-09
Motion for reconsideration (plaintiff) Denied

“In sum, the court denies the motion for reconsideration.”

Clark v. Chase Home Finance, LLC
3:08-cv-00500-JM-RBB · 2008-06-03
Motions to remand (plaintiff) Denied

“In sum, the court finds that defendant Boudreau is a sham defendant such that his citizenship is not considered for purposes of determining diversity jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. §1332... the motion to remand is denied”

Judgment on the pleadings (defendant) Granted in part

“the court grants the motion for judgment on the pleadings with respect to the third and sixth causes of action with prejudice, and declines to presently consider a Rule 56 motion based upon the Release Agreement signed by Plaintiff Clark.”

Adachi v. Carlyle/Galaxy San Pedro, L.P.
3:08-cv-02052-JM-WMC · 2009-01-30
Motions to dismiss (defendant) Denied

“In sum, the motion to dismiss for improper venue is denied.”

Motion to transfer venue (defendant) Granted

“the court denies the motion to dismiss for improper venue and grants the motion to transfer the action to the Central District of California. All other motions are denied as moot. The Clerk of Court is instructed to transfer this action to the Central District of California.”

Motion to compel arbitration (defendant) Moot / procedural

“All other motions are denied as moot.”

Fuentes v. Deutsche Bank
3:09-cv-00502-JM-BLM · 2009-07-08
Judgment on the pleadings (defendant) Granted

“Defendant's Motion for Judgment on the Pleadings is GRANTED. Plaintiff’s claims against Defendants are DISMISSED with 30 days leave to amend, with the exception of Plaintiff’s claims under Cal. Civ. Code. § 2923.6, 15 USC § 1692, and Cal. Civ. Code § 1788, et seq. As amendment on those claims would be futile, they are DISMISSED without leave to amend.”

Klat v. Mitchell Repair Information Co.
3:10-cv-00100-JM-DHB · 2010-03-18
Motions to dismiss (defendant) Denied

“In sum, the motion to dismiss is denied. Defendants shall file an answer to the complaint within 14 days of entry of this order.”

Balasanyan v. Nordstrom, Inc.
3:11-cv-02609-JM-JLB · 2013-08-12
Class certification (plaintiff) Granted in part

“For the aforementioned reasons, the motions for certification are granted for the proposed Maraventano and Balasanyan California Classes and denied for Balasanyan’s proposed California Subclass and Nationwide Class. The court also strikes the Boedeker Declarations... from the record.”

Caseload & timing

From public federal docket records for this judge.

Median case duration in the sampled dockets: 360 days (N = 8).

Median motion-to-ruling time: 67 days (N = 1).

Judge Miller's docket includes general civil matters and border-related criminal cases. The sampled 2021 matters include civil-rights and Bivens claims, Social Security appeals, Section 2255 proceedings, labor and diversity cases, consumer-finance disputes, environmental enforcement, and illegal-reentry prosecutions. This describes caseload composition, not motion outcomes.

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Ezel grounds your drafting and research in this profile: what has persuaded Judge Miller, and what has not, cited to the signed orders.

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