Michael M. Anello
How Judge Anello rules, drawn from 26 signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
About Judge Anello
Michael M. Anello is a judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of California. Appointed by President George W. Bush, Judge Anello received a commission on October 10, 2008. Judge Anello assumed senior status on October 31, 2018.
Judge Anello's practices and standing orders
Rules for cases before Judge Anello, 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
For filings exceeding 20 pages, submit courtesy copies directly to chambers as soon as practicable after filing.
“Courtesy copies of filings that exceed twenty (20) pages in length must be submitted directly to Chambers as soon as practicable after filing.”
Motions
Obtain a motion hearing date from the assigned law clerk before filing.
“All dates for motion hearings must be obtained by contacting Chambers and speaking with the law clerk assigned to the case.”
Motions
Attach a separate statement of undisputed material facts to every summary judgment motion.
“All motions for summary judgment must be accompanied by a separate statement of undisputed material facts.”
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).
- General Order 514-E: Policy on Privacy and Public Access to Electronic Case Files ↗
- General Order 596: Pro Bono Plan ↗
- Chief Judge Order 144: Standard Procedures for Immigration Habeas Petitions ↗
- Chief Judge Order 134-A: Appointment of Counsel for Certain Immigration Detainees Seeking Habeas Relief ↗
How Judge Anello decides
Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
What persuades
In Poslof’s prisoner civil-rights case, he denied the plaintiff’s pre-discovery summary-judgment motion without prejudice because it lacked competent supporting evidence and was premature.
“Plaintiff’s motion is unsupported by evidence and premature and must be denied on these grounds.”
Procedural preferences
In a request to file a sur-reply, the court distinguished a new argument from a reply that responds to the opposition. It denied additional briefing where the reply added detail without changing the defense theory.
“the reply brief does not raise any new arguments.”
In Calderon’s suit, he denied amendment at that stage because the plaintiff had not shown good cause under Rule 16(b).
“Plaintiff fails to meet her burden under Rule 16(b) to demonstrate good cause for amendment of her complaint at this stage of the proceedings.”
In Lien’s case, he declined supplemental jurisdiction over the remaining state claims and dismissed them without prejudice to refiling in state court.
“The Court DECLINES to exercise supplemental jurisdiction over Plaintiff's state law claims against Defendant City. ... Plaintiffs' claims are DISMISSED WITHOUT PREJUDICE to being refiled in state court.”
In Tyson’s fee dispute, he found 21.5 hours for a motion to dismiss excessive, reduced that time to 15 hours, and awarded $7,373 in fees.
“the Court finds the 21.5 hours O. Andrew Wheaton billed to prepare the motion to dismiss excessive ... the Court reduces that time to 15 hours ... the Court awards Moving Defendants attorneys' fees in the amount of $7,373.”
Cautions
In Tyson’s suit, he granted the defendants’ motions and dismissed the action with prejudice after the plaintiff filed no timely opposition.
“Plaintiff did not file a timely opposition to the motions and the Court ultimately granted all of Defendants' motions and dismissed Plaintiff's action with prejudice.”
In Morrison v. Yippee Entertainment, the court denied arbitration because the subscription page’s hyperlink did not give adequate notice of the purported agreement.
“the hyperlink here did not sufficiently put Plaintiff on notice”
Signed rulings
A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.
“the Court GRANTS IN PART and DENIES IN PART Defendant's Motion for Summary Judgment (Doc. No. 44).”
“The Court also DENIES Plaintiff's Ex Parte Motion for Leave to File a Sur-Reply (Doc. No. 55).”
“Because Plaintiffs have failed to demonstrate grounds for reconsideration under Rule 59(e), the Court DENIES Plaintiffs' motion for reconsideration.”
“the Court GRANTS Moving Defendants' motion for attorneys' fees and AWARDS $7,373 in attorneys fees to Wells Fargo and O. Andrew Wheaton.”
“the Court GRANTS Target’s motion for summary judgment ... The Clerk of Court shall enter judgment in favor of Target as to all claims and terminate the case.”
“the Court denies Plaintiff leave to file an amended complaint.”
“GRANTS Target’s request for attorney’s fees pursuant to Rule 16(f)(2). The Court awards Target attorney’s fees in the amount of $2,250.00.”
“The Court DENIES Plaintiff's Motion for Summary Judgment [Doc. No. 22]”
“The Court GRANTS Defendant's Cross-Motion for Summary Judgment [Doc. No. 23].”
“the Court DENIES Plaintiff’s motion for partial summary judgment without prejudice”
“the Court GRANTS Officer Defendants’ motion to dismiss.”
“DENIES IN PART and GRANTS IN PART Defendant City’s motion to dismiss ... the Court GRANTS Defendant City’s motion to dismiss all claims against Doe Defendants.”
“the Court DENIES AS MOOT Defendant City’s motion for summary judgment.”
“the Court AFFIRMS its tentative ruling and GRANTS DeRosa's motion for clarification. On the current record, Plaintiffs are limited to seeking injunctive relief with respect to their trade secret claims at trial.”
“for these reasons, the Court DENIES Plaintiff’s motion for leave to file a sur-reply.”
“Thus, the Court GRANTS Aziyo's motion to compel arbitration.”
“Because Plaintiff’s motion, at each factor, facially lacks sufficient support for a temporary or preliminary injunction, the Court DENIES the motion without prejudice.”
In a Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act suit against a tuna supplier, a non-party law professor moved ex parte for leave to file an amicus brief supporting the plaintiffs' opposition to a pending motion to dismiss. Although the parties consented, the Court denied leave, reasoning the parties were already well-represented by nearly a dozen attorneys, the professor had only minimal interest in the case, and his proposed brief merely retread the plaintiffs' existing arguments without adding unique material. Verbatim disposition: 'Thus, the Court determines Professor Dodge's participation would be of little assistance and DENIES his ex parte motion.' Excluded from party-motion statistics because the movant is a non-party amicus.
Caseload & timing
From public federal docket records for this judge.
Median case duration in the sampled dockets: 513 days (N = 10).
Median motion-to-ruling time: 136 days (N = 6).
- Judge Anello's broad civil docket includes disability-access cases, Social Security appeals, telephone-consumer and debt-collection claims, real-property and foreclosure disputes, removed landlord matters, antitrust litigation, civil-rights suits, and habeas petitions.
- It also includes a large cluster of Midland Credit Management matters associated with multidistrict litigation.
- This describes the mix of sampled cases rather than how he tended to rule.
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 | 0 |
| Report | Motions over six months | Cases over three years |
|---|---|---|
| Mar 2026 | 0 | 0 |
| Sep 2025 | 0 | 2 |
| Mar 2025 | 0 | 5 |
| Sep 2024 | 0 | 2 |
| Mar 2024 | 0 | 3 |
| Sep 2023 | 0 | 2 |
| Mar 2023 | 0 | 1 |
| Sep 2022 | 0 | 2 |
| Mar 2022 | 0 | 3 |
| Sep 2021 | 0 | 5 |
| Mar 2021 | 0 | 6 |
| Sep 2020 | 1 | 165 |
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 Southern District of California, not for Judge Anello: 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 | 2,204 | 5.3 months |
| Closed with no court action | 642 | 3.3 months |
| Closed before pretrial | 1,066 | 5.3 months |
| Closed during or after pretrial | 484 | 10.4 months |
| Closed during trial | 12 | 38.3 months |
| 12 months ending | Cases closed | Median time |
|---|---|---|
| Sep 2025 | 2,204 | 5.3 months |
| Sep 2024 | 2,146 | 6.6 months |
| Sep 2023 | 2,133 | 6 months |
| Sep 2022 | 1,974 | 9 months |
| Sep 2021 | 2,381 | 7.4 months |
| Sep 2020 | 1,885 | 6 months |
| Sep 2019 | 2,265 | 6.2 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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