Ruth Bermudez Montenegro
How Judge Montenegro rules, drawn from 33 signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
About Judge Montenegro
Ruth Bermudez Montenegro is a judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of California. Appointed by President Joseph R. Biden, Judge Montenegro received a commission on March 30, 2022.
Judge Montenegro's practices and standing orders
Rules for cases before Judge Montenegro, 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.
- Montenegro Civil Chamber Rules ↗
- Montenegro Criminal Pretrial and Sentencing Chambers Rules ↗
- Montenegro Criminal Trial Chambers Rules ↗
Key rules
Filing
Do not provide courtesy copies for filings.
“No courtesy copies are necessary for any filing.”
Filing
Submit proposed orders with all motions.
“Any proposed orders must be submitted simultaneously with all motions.”
Motions
File a statement of nonopposition at least 14 days before the hearing if a party will not oppose the motion.
“A party that determines that it will not oppose a given motion shall file a statement of non-opposition no later than fourteen (14) days before the hearing date.”
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 Montenegro decides
Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
What persuades
Grants a defendant's motion to dismiss but allows the plaintiff to file an amended complaint curing the noted deficiencies.
“For the reasons discussed above, Defendants’ motion to dismiss (Doc. 17) is GRANTED. Plaintiff may file an amended complaint on or before July 28, 2023 which cures the deficiencies noted above.”
In an immigration-detention challenge involving renewed custody after years in the United States, grants habeas relief and orders immediate release before any later hearing on renewed detention.
“Based on the foregoing reasons, the Petition (Doc. 1) is GRANTED. Accordingly: 1. The Government is ORDERED to immediately release the noncitizen from custody.”
Confirms an arbitration award when the objection does not identify clearly applicable law that the arbitrator knowingly disregarded.
“Given the apparent dearth of case law, and Plaintiff’s failure to cite authority to demonstrate that the Arbitrator was ignoring a ‘well defined, explicit, and clearly applicable’ law, the Court finds that the Arbitrator did not exceed his authority.”
In Marks, she dismissed a consumer-protection claim about amusement-park tickets after finding the admission was outside the statute’s covered goods and services.
“access to an amusement park is an intangible good.”
Procedural preferences
Denies a motion to strike, exercising discretion in favor of deciding cases on their merits.
“Based on the foregoing, Defendants’ Motion to Strike (Doc. 62) and the requests set forth in Defendants’ Statement of Plaintiff’s Non-Opposition (Doc. 60) are DENIED. The Court exercises its discretion to consider Plaintiff’s Opposition to Defendants’ MSJ.”
Cautions
On a fully-developed record, grants a defendant's motion for summary judgment.
“Defendant Trader Joe's Company's Motion for Summary Judgment ('the Motion') is GRANTED.”
In Khukhua v. Casey, Bermudez Montenegro granted the habeas petition in part after more than 16 months of detention, ordered an individualized bond hearing within ten days, and denied the request for immediate release.
“Based on the foregoing reasons, the Amended Petition (Doc. 7) is GRANTED IN PART. To the extent that Petitioner requests to be released from custody, the Amended Petition is DENIED.”
In Wang, she denied a bond-hearing habeas claim without prejudice after roughly four months of custody and permitted a new petition if detention continued past a specified date.
“Petitioner may file an Amended Petition”
Signed rulings
A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.
“For the reasons discussed above, Defendants’ motion to dismiss (Doc. 17) is GRANTED. Plaintiff may file an amended complaint on or before July 28, 2023 which cures the deficiencies noted above.”
“Based on the foregoing reasons, the Court GRANTS Defendant’s Motion to Dismiss. All claims are DISMISSED with leave to amend. Plaintiff may file an amended complaint in accordance with the directives above on or before January 5, 2026.”
“Based on the foregoing, Defendants’ Motion to Strike (Doc. 62) and the requests set forth in Defendants’ Statement of Plaintiff’s Non-Opposition (Doc. 60) are DENIED. The Court exercises its discretion to consider Plaintiff’s Opposition to Defendants’ MSJ.”
“Based on the foregoing, Defendants’ Motion is DENIED.”
“Defendant Trader Joe's Company's Motion for Summary Judgment ('the Motion') is GRANTED.”
“the Court GRANTS IN PART and DENIES IN PART CCMG's Motion and County's Motion as detailed herein... DENIES AS MOOT CCMG's Motion for the wrongful death claim... DENIES CCMG's Motion concerning economic damages”
“the Court GRANTS IN PART and DENIES IN PART CCMG's Motion and County's Motion as detailed herein... DENIES the County's Motion for qualified immunity... GRANTS the County's Motion for the supervisory claims for failure to train and failure to supervise and discipline against Defendant Gore... GRANTS the County's Motion for the punitive damages claim.”
“Defendants’ MSJ (Doc. 22) is GRANTED. The Clerk of Court is instructed to enter judgment accordingly and to close this case.”
“Based on the foregoing, Defendant’s Motion is DENIED.”
“GRANTS the motion to dismiss filed by the Premier Defendants with leave to amend (Doc. 313)”
“GRANTS ... the three motions to dismiss and numerous joinders filed by the Dentist Defendants with leave to amend (see Docs. 303–305, 307–310, 314, 316).”
“DENIES AS MOOT the motions to dismiss filed by Mikia Wallis and Diana Thompson (see Docs. 306, 311)”
“Defendant’s Motion to Compel Arbitration (Doc. 9) is GRANTED. This case is STAYED pending conclusion of arbitration pursuant to the terms of the Arbitration Agreement.”
“the Petition (Doc. 1) is GRANTED. Accordingly: 14 1. Respondents are ORDERED to immediately release Petitioner from custody”
“Petitioner’s TRO Motion (Doc. 3) is DENIED AS MOOT.”
“Accordingly, the Court GRANTS Defendant’s MTD (Doc. 6) as unopposed and the First Amended Complaint is DISMISSED WITHOUT PREJUDICE.”
Caseload & timing
From public federal docket records for this judge.
Median case duration in the sampled dockets: 193 days (N = 8).
Median motion-to-ruling time: 171 days (N = 4).
- The sampled docket has a substantial criminal component typical of a border district, alongside securities, civil-rights, disability-access, Social Security, habeas, copyright, and medical-malpractice matters.
- Montenegro's 2026 docket is dominated by alien-detainee habeas petitions and is not representative of her broader merits caseload.
- Many civil matters were referred to magistrate judges for pretrial proceedings.
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 | 7 |
| Report | Motions over six months | Cases over three years |
|---|---|---|
| Mar 2026 | 0 | 7 |
| Sep 2025 | 0 | 6 |
| Mar 2025 | 0 | 5 |
| Sep 2024 | 0 | 6 |
| Mar 2024 | 0 | 5 |
| Sep 2023 | 0 | 3 |
| Mar 2023 | 0 | 5 |
| Sep 2022 | 0 | 7 |
| Mar 2022 | 0 | 0 |
| Sep 2021 | 0 | 0 |
| Mar 2021 | 0 | 0 |
| Sep 2020 | 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 Southern District of California, not for Judge Montenegro: 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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